MANY POLITICIANS, OFFICIALS, diplomats, academics, think-tankers and fellow journalists have helped us to form our ideas and write this book, some without realising it. A large number of people gave generously of their time and shared their insights (and often their personal notes of events), but wish to remain anonymous. We would like to thank them all.
For the Charlemagne columnist covering the twists and turns of the crisis from Brussels, the press corps has been a source of good cheer and comradeship, and a forum for the exchange of information, through endless late-night meetings of European leaders and finance ministers. The colleagues and guests of the “Toucan” dinner club have produced many enlightening and enjoyable evenings.
The job of interpreting events has been made much easier thanks to the expertise of scholars who follow the often arcane affairs of the EU. They include staff at the Brussels think-tank, Bruegel – among them Guntram Wolff, Jean Pisani-Ferry, André Sapir, Zsolt Darvas and Silvia Merler – who have offered invaluable expertise over the years. Similarly, Daniel Gros at the Centre for European Policy Studies has been a source of sharp perspective. On questions of Europe in the wider world many have been helpful and incisive, among them Jan Techau at Carnegie Europe, Daniel Keohane at FRIDE, Sir Michael Leigh at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, as well as the many experts of the European Council on Foreign Relations. Philippe Legrain, formerly at the European Commission’s Bureau of European Policy Advisers, has been refreshingly trenchant and forthright in his views of where Europe has gone wrong.
We would like to thank Stephen Brough, Penny Williams and Jonathan Harley for incubating this book and seeing it through to completion with charm and patience, despite many interruptions and changes to the manuscript. Andrea Burgess and Roxana Willis at The Economist have been indefatigable researchers in finding data and producing charts.
We owe a special thanks to several people who took the time to read drafts of our manuscript and commented on all or parts of it. They include Charles Grant and Simon Tilford at the Centre for European Reform and Heather Grabbe at the Open Society Foundations, as well as our colleagues at The Economist, Edward Carr and Zanny Minton Beddoes.
No one can write a book without being a burden on their families. Accordingly, we dedicate this one to our ever-supportive spouses, Sara and Jane.