However, my suspicion is that one of the answers is that the EU has started concentrating too much – and in many areas almost exclusively – on the process of deeper and deeper political integration. It is almost a mainstream ideology which states that the answer or solution to virtually any problem in the EU is more integration. Whenever we discuss problems with colleagues in Brussels, the mainstream view typically argues: we need more EU integration to solve this. And if integration has not brought what we hoped for, it means we need even more integration. We probably did not have enough of it. Well, I have some doubts about this approach, at least as regards the impact of political integration on the economy. The concept is based on a simple idea that the bigger the state, or the bigger the economy, the bigger also the wealth of the citizens of such a state or economy. This idea fails terribly when compared with simple statistics and facts. If you take a look at the correlation between the size of an economy and a measure of well-being such as GDP per capita, you will see that on average the bigger, or more populous, economies in the world are not generally richer economies. Rather, it is small open economies (including those in Europe) that tend to be richer, the only exception to this rule being the United States. So bigger does not mean richer.
The celebrated Lisbon Strategy has turned into a farce; many of the structural reforms that it outlined would be beneficial economically, but few of them have been realised or at least enforced by the agent, the European Commission. On the other hand, the EU institutions have repeatedly shown an ability to produce bizarre pieces of legislation that would hardly ever be passed at the national level in any given member state. The famous Czech writer Milan Kundera would probably call it the “unbearable lightness of legislating”. So my suspicion is that the EU is now in a position where it is easier to integrate than to liberalise. And these are two different things in terms of long-term economic growth, as I have argued. What a shame for the EU and for us. Thank you for your attention. BIS Review 165/2009  3