Dalibor Rohac on the Libertarian Case for the European Union
Advocates of free markets harbor a well-justified distrust of the European Union (EU). Dalibor Rohac, for example, has spent a fair amount of time criticizing its populist overregulation, its moral hazard, and the damage created by the common European currency, EU structural funds, and Common Agricultural Policy. He is convinced that the EU is a deeply flawed organization and that it mostly deserves much of the criticism that it receives from pro-market circles. However, he no longer thinks, as he once did, that the EU is the single biggest threat to freedom and prosperity in Europe, nor that an exit from the EU—either by the United Kingdom or some of the smaller central European states, such as his home country, Slovakia—would make these countries, or the continent as a whole, more libertarian. If a breakup were to occur, it would likely push Europe towards nationalism and protectionism, and undo some of the real benefits of European integration.