This House Believes In A United States of Europe | Cambridge Union

The Cambridge Union | In Conversation With...

Thusday 22th February 2024 at 8:00pm in the Debating Chamber.

The vision of a United Europe has long been a dream of visionary philosophers and thinkers, from Leibniz to Lafayette. Successive empires seemed close to uniting Europe- Napoleon chief among them- before they crumbled into oblivion.

It was only after the carnage of the World Wars that such a dream could move closer to reality with the foundation of the European Coal and Steel Community in 1951, followed by the European Economic Community in 1957 and the European Union in 1993.

Now trade flows in a free single market and people and goods can move across, with some 27 member states representing some 450 million people. But is ever-closer union, and a European superstate, achievable or desirable?

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Proposition:

PROFESSOR MARTA LORIMER

Marta Lorimer is a LSE Fellow in European Politics. Prior to joining the European Institute, she was a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Exeter.

Her upcoming book, Europe as Ideological Resource: European Integration and Far Right Legitimation in France and Italy, presents a novel argument that rather than providing as a liberal bulwark against the far right, European integration has helped normalise and spread these ideas.

FRANCESCA ROMANA D’ANTUONO

Francesca Romana D'Antuono is co-president of Volt Europa, the first party to be founded specifically as a pan-European party to push for European integration. The party has seats from Bulgaria to the Netherlands, Ms D'Antuono has been a particularly vocal activist for European integration and the formation of a workable European army. Outside of politics, she is an author and has been a notable critic of gender biases in the medical sector.

BRENDAN DONNELLY

Brendan Donnelly is a former MEP and founder of the Rejoin EU Party, a party that seeks to pressure for the UK to re-join the European Union. He was elected as an MEP for the Conservative Party in 1994, before quitting the party due to increasing euroscepticism within the party. Most recently he stood for election to the London Assembly and in the Chesham and Amersham by-election and continues to be a fierce advocate for Britain's participation within Europe.

JULIE WARD

Julie Ward served as a Labour MEP for NW England from 2014 to 2020. She was a member of various European Parliament's Committees including on the economy and women's rights. She was also a member of the delegation for relations with Bosnia Herzegovina and Kosovo. Prior to being elected Julie worked in the creative and cultural industries and returned to this field subsequent to Brexit.

Opposition:

DAMSITH WIMALASENA

Damsith is a second year student from Lucy Cavendish reading Land Economy. He won the right to speak through open audition.

PROFESSOR JAN ZIELONKA

Jan is a Professor at the University of Oxford and at the University of Venice, Ca Foscari. Zielonka has produced eighteen books, including Counter-revolution.

ANNE JENSDATTER

Anne is a first year student from St. Edmund’s reading History & Politics. She is vice president of the Nordic Youth Council. She won the right to speak through open audition.