Dear David,
Roger Bootle is giving the United Kingdom and it's leaders much less credit than they deserve. There may well be 'shackles' but not only for the UK. What hinders the members of the EU and in particular Great Britain, France and Germany to jointly improve on what is admittedly less than an ideal situation in the best interest of Europe and ultimately the UNITED STATES OF EUROPE. Please remember what Winston Churchill told students in Zurich in 1948.
Best regards,

David Fuller's view

Good point and here is a link to an article from EU Rope: Winston Churchill: A founder of the European Union.  He did indeed talk about a “United States of Europe”, and who knows what the great man would say today, under very different circumstances.  I will not hazard a guess but I will also note that Churchill once said:

“If Britain must choose between Europe and the open sea, she must always choose the open sea”.