“the more he spoke spontaneously and on concrete topics, , the less he was on the official line, but without seemmingly noticing the contradiction. That official line is so ingrained in everybody that they don’t even notice that they are effectively pushing the opposite of what they seemingly believe in.”

Yet more confirmation, as far as I’m concerned, that it’s time for the EU to take a step back and work out just what the hell it is that it’s trying to do. The old plans of the 1950s are obsolete; so are the plans of the 1980s – but no one has yet had the balls to propose the complete overhaul that it is becoming increasingly apparent is needed.