Article: A turning point on Europe as moderates find a voice

BRITONS today are as likely to have friends in Alicante as Aldershot, and to marry the girl behind the checkout at Carrefour as at Tesco. It is, says bmi British Midland chairman Sir Michael Bishop, "one of the fundamental paradoxes that sit at the heart of the European question as a society, we lack trust in Europe - particularly in its institutions and their representatives. Yet as individuals we embrace it wholeheartedly, changing our attitudes massively in a whole generation".

The quote comes from a booklet from a relatively new organisation, Business for New Europe. The booklet has achieved the remarkable feat of getting 36 business leaders to commit themselves publicly to support the principles behind the European Union, and to say how they would like it reformed, and the direction in which they feel it ought to go.

The people contributing come from most of the major sectors of the economy and include London Stock Exchange chairman Chris Gibson-Smith, RBS chairman Sir Tom McKillop, Charles Dunstone of Carphone Warehouse and Vodafone's Arun Sarin. National Grid's Sir John Parker, Willie Walsh of British Airways Anthony Hapgood of Whitbread and many other heavy-hitters fill the other pages - not with the usual PR waffle penned for them by a flunkey, but for the most part with some serious insights and constructive thought.

Reading the pages, it is easy to feel the publication marks a turning point.

For too many years, the British approach to Europe has been scared by the debate over the euro, where the running has often been made by people whose real instincts, genuinely held, are to get the UK out of the European Union altogether. That more moderate views are now finding a voice is good for business, and if it leads to a more intelligent engagement with Europe, good for the country.