OK, so my time in JEF is over. It gives me free evenings, and the release from the responsibility is so, so welcome. But the Congress in Strasbourg leaves a bit of a bitter taste in my mouth. The main political resolutions I wrote – on the situation facing the European Constitution, and on European taxation, were both butchered by the Congress. Now, there’s nothing wrong with that in itself, but peculiarly the changes made watered down the resolutions and made them less coherent in my opinion.

It’s all especially peculiar as no-one has ever considered me as a particular devotee to the more radical aspects of federalism. But maybe leaving the organisation has given me some useful distance from the everyday matters that will face the new team, and allowed me to analyse the problems in an open-minded fashion. There must be a role for federalist theory, and our ideas as federalists must be coherent. You can read my speech where I deal with these subjects HERE.

I wish the new team all the best – it will not be in an easy two years in an organisation that showed itself to be not torn, but confused. All the best to everyone to help solve that as soon as possible!