Yes to Europe, No to federalism
David Owen explains how he reconciles his pro-Europeanism with opposition to British membership of a single European currency. Lord Owen was Britain’s foreign secretary from 1977-79 and EU co-chairman of the international conference on the former Yugoslavia from 1992-95. (A longer version of this article is available.)
MY POLITICAL career has been dominated by the question of British membership of the European Community. I have resigned three times, with the EU as the most important issue each time. On the first two occasions, I was protesting against the Labour Party's negative attitude to Europe. In 1972 I resigned with Roy Jenkins from my position as a junior defence spokesman for the Labour Party; and in 1980 I stood down from the Labour shadow cabinet when the implacably anti-European Michael Foot was elected leader.
This article appeared in the By Invitation section of the print edition under the headline “Yes to Europe, No to federalism”
From the January 24th 1998 edition
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