I believe in European integration because - whether we like it or not - the rest of Europe is there. We have to have some sort of policy towards our neighbours, so I would much rather that this relationship was regulated by law and agreement, than by conflict.

[This article was originally written for the Norwegian European Movement and can be viewed on their website here.]

The half-century of peace Europe has enjoyed since 1945 is a tribute to the success of this approach, through the European Communities and the European Union. I would much rather see differences between the peoples of Europe resolved around a rather dull conference table than by force - whether that is by actual war or by other conflict such as trade wars.

Of course the peoples in different countries of Europe are very different from each other in many ways - just as people within any country vary. No-one wants to remove these differences. We need to preserve them and the EU must of course draw strength from the great diversity of its very different peoples.

But have you ever heard anyone say that the Germans are less German inside the EU? Have the Finnish suddenly stopped taking saunas since joining the EU, or the French suddenly lost their national identity because the coins in their pockets are now called Euros? Of course not.

Do I think the European Union is perfect? Of course not, -in just the same way as I don’t think we run my own country is perfect. But the fact it isn’t perfect is not a reason not to have government - it’s a reason to try to improve it. Whatever the failings of the European Union, it brings immense benefits - in the same way that government in our own countries is in our common interest.

Europeans all want to promote our own security and prosperity. And Europeans share too many distinctive ideals: a belief in social support and the importance of the environment are just two obvious examples. We share also an approach to the way we want see international justice and peace. All these are things we can achieve much more effectively by working together. Where we disagree, let’s agree to disagree. But where we can more effectively achieve our common goals by working together, let’s spend our energy working together with -not against -each other.