In January 2001, I arrived in Brussels with several firm and unfavourable convictions about the EU. I believed that most ordinary Europeans felt far more loyalty to their nation than to Europe. I thought that steadily enlarging the powers of Brussels was undemocratic and dangerous. I reckoned that in a crisis, nationalist instincts would come to the fore. I suspected that the EU's new currency – the euro – was liable to run into trouble. And I believed that the Brussels-based elite was a “new class” that had confused its own interests with those of the continent of Europe.
2001年1月我抵達布魯塞爾時，曾對歐盟懷有幾分根深蒂固的偏見。我相信，歐洲普通大眾對自己的國家要比對歐洲忠誠得多，而穩步擴張布魯塞爾的權力既不民主，又是危險的。我猜測，民族主義本能在危機時刻肯定會抬頭，而歐盟的新貨幣歐元多半會遇上麻煩。我認為，以布魯塞爾為總部的精英們，是一個把自身利益與歐洲大陸利益混為一談的“新階層”。
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