THE GUARDIAN: The EU will never be the same again. Britain has become more Swiss, but most of Europe's gone German
It was the day that Europe united. It was the day that Europe split. To save the euro, up to 26 members of the European Union are to join a fiscal compact, submitting the core tax and spend competencies of the state to mutual supervision. If this actually happens, it will mean that the crisis of monetary union has driven them towards a political union they would not otherwise have embraced. Equally fateful is Britain's decision to stand aside. One or two other countries may sooner or later join the Brits, but even this would mean a split between a core union, embracing the large majority, and a small, scattered periphery.
Whatever follows, the European Union will never be the same again. Even if this ultimately proves to be a turning point at which history fails to turn, historians will mark the 9th of December 2011. » | Timothy Garton Ash | Friday, December 09, 2011
