Since anything that can be misunderstood will be misunderstood, I must start with some disclaimers. I am not urging the EU should end. Like the Holy Roman Empire, it may spend many years in gentle decline doing little good and little harm. Nor am I urging that the UK or any other member state should leave the EU. What I am saying is that the EU no longer deserves the devotion of practical idealists. When voices in Paris or Berlin say the answer to any problem is “more Europe”, by which they mean more centralised power to EU institutions, we should turn a deaf ear. And when some leaders say that “without the euro there is no Europe” we should shrug our shoulders and look at an atlas to reassure ourselves.
由于一切可能被误解的事情都将遭到误解，我必须以免责声明开篇。我不是在敦促欧盟(EU)解体。就像神圣罗马帝国(Holy Roman Empire)一样，欧盟可能要在很多年内缓慢衰落，既无益也无害。我也不是在敦促英国或者任何其他任何成员国退出欧盟。我想说的是，欧盟不再值得务实的理想主义者热爱。当巴黎或者柏林有声音表示，任何问题的解决方法都是“更加欧洲化”，即增强欧盟机构的集权时，我们应该置若罔闻。当某些领导人表示，“没有欧元就没有欧洲”时，我们应该耸耸肩，看看地图册，好让自己安心。