On Wednesday 5 May 2010 Professor Alan Dashwood spoke at an event held by the Hughes Hall Hat Club in association with Hughes Hall Law Society.

"The European Communities (and their successor the European Union) are the best available evidence that humankind is capable of collective self-improvement. Europe has been transformed from the cockpit of the world to a haven of peace, liberal values and economic prosperity. The paradoxical structure of the EU, as a federation of sovereign States, is well-adapted to the historical and cultural reality of Europe but there are internal contradictions in the system that place it under permanent stress.

I expect the EU to survive and even to flourish but it will always be a messy and complicated enterprise."