Hello, my name's David Dunn. I’m professor of International Politics and head of the
Department of Political Science and International Studies at the University of Birmingham. Today
I’d like to share some thought's about what is very positive about the European Union
and what that contribution is and why we should stay part of what is a positive force in world
politics. The first thing to say is that as a historian of war which I partly am, war
is the universal condition in European history for the last 3000 years. War is older than sovereignty,
older than the nation states and every generation has thought they've been past war and that
war was a thing of the past. This was true in 1918, true in the 1930s and the European
project, it's main purpose has been to address the causes of war and to build what's called
a security community through functional integration and to actually ameliorate the causes of war
and that, I think it has done very successfully over 70 years. In doing that it has also spread
security throughout Europe, it's actually brought peace and stability to Greece and Spain that had
dictators, it's over the years it's also embraced and socialised the former European communist
countries of Eastern Europe and in doing so it's created a large space in Europe that
is secure, where the prospect of resort to force within that community is now a thing
of the past. Now Europe is going through a lot of challenges, the resurgent Russia, the
challenge of ISIS. Now is not a time to set a process in motion that would destabilise
and possibly end what has been a long sustained period of peace in european history. But Europe’s
not just about peace, europe is also about prosperity. The creation of the single market
has been a massive boon for the european economy and a massive boon for the UK in Europe. Back
in the 1970s, which I remember, Britain was the sick man of Europe. Our economy lagged
behind Italy, it lagged behind France. Now it's the second biggest economy, partly because
people invest from overseas direct foreign investments in the UK as a way of getting to a market
500 million people. That's why Toyota, and Honda and Airbus and even Kellogg’s and
Microsoft invest in the UK as part of a wider market and that's hugely beneficial for the
UK economy. The same thing is true about the City of London. The City of London, the joke
there is, that it's rather like Wimbledon, we provide the venue but not necessarily all the players.
Because there are 300 thousand French, there are hundreds of thousands of Germans, all Europeans
work in the city and make that a truly European and global financial hub. Free movement of
people makes that possible and the economy benefits enormously. 25% of the UK economy
is financial services and that's as a consequence of the free movement of people and membership
of the European Union. We've also actually benefited from a single European space. We're part of a
larger community. By being part of something bigger, we are better. Less xenophobic, less
racist. We actually understand Europe, we travel around Europe, we actually experience Europe
in a different way. The prospect of jumping on an aeroplane and flying off to a European
capital for the weekend is a thing that was completely alien 50, 60 years ago even
20 years ago. Now we see ourselves in a different context, we are part of a larger European project.
We have a larger sense of ourselves that is better as a consequence. We're also actually
better on the world stage by speaking with one voice. When Britain speaks on the world
stage as 70 million, that's one voice. If we lead in Europe and speak on behalf and
lead 500 million then we have a bigger voice. We have a chance to export soft power values,
European values, on the world stage through the institution and I recommend you stay in
as a consequence. Thank you.