Thinking big

This is a moment of opportunity for any small European country prepared to think big, writes Timothy Garton Ash in today's Guardian:

There's a lot to be said for being small. Small countries generally don't start wars. They usually don't have the arrogance of larger states. Besides modesty and intimacy, they often enjoy a high level of social solidarity. The nation is like an extended family. And, particularly in the favourable conditions of contemporary Europe, they can do well by their citizens..Seven of the world's top 10 in the human development index - the combined measure of health, education and gross domestic product per capita - are small European countries..

There are also disadvantages. The transaction costs of small states can be high. An extreme example is Bosnia. Under its present, Byzantine constitutional arrangements, it expends 70% of its budget just on paying its politicians and officials. There are also high transaction costs for cooperation between many small states: look at the EU's budget for interpretation. Provincialism can be the flipside of modesty. In international relations, small countries can be fearful of confronting larger neighbours who are behaving badly..

I don't want to overstate the case. There are obvious drawbacks to an EU of ever more small states. You only have to look at the size of the European leaders' conference table in Brussels to see that no one could ever have a proper discussion around it. But, like it or not, this larger EU of smaller states is a fact. It's an illusion to think that it will be made to work by a directorate of the three largest states, Germany, France and Britain. It's an equal and opposite illusion to think that it will be made to work by the EU becoming a single federal state. Both those moments have passed..

In the long run, the EU will only move forward in any given policy area if there is a strategic coalition of the willing that includes the key big states and some small states. Nothing will happen unless the big states agree to it; equally, nothing will happen if only the big ones support it. This is a moment of opportunity for any small European country prepared to think big