Press

Taking a step back, Philip Whyte at the Centre for European Reform argues that the initial June report from the gang of four "marked an important departure, because its focus shifted to correcting the eurozone's architectural flaws rather than the behaviour of its members."

"It would involve countries handing over to an unelected appointed figures the right to veto their budgets, so in terms of the implications for democratic accountability it's certainly very radical," said Simon Tilford, chief economist at the Centre for European Reform in London.

Philip Whyte of the CER, said the timing of the award could be seen as "ironic". Many EU countries have committed to austerity measures and stringent loan agreements, which they have very little power to resist and the terms of the eurozone bailout agreements could be seen as "undermining democracy in southern Europe", he said.

Simon Tilford, of the Centre for European Reform, says that's exactly why they're giving the EU the Nobel Prize for Peace. "The region is in crisis," he says, "it's very difficult to see a way out of it because of political differences between the member-states."

Hugo Brady of the CER has conducted a major study of the block opt-out. He argues that while exercising the block opt-out en masse will boost Cameron's eurosceptic credentials, it could leave Britain badly exposed in terms of security, while further alienating key allies. "His claims to British legal exceptionalism are unlikely to convince other EU countries that the block opt-out is anything other than a shallow political manoeuvre," says Brady.

"Consolidation is good for European value amid defence cuts," said Charles Grant, director of the CER in London. ..."Ninety-nine per cent of European politicians only see things in terms of their national interests," said Mr. Grant.

"This highlights the real challenges for Europeans in their attempt to create an integrated defence industry and market," said Clara Marina O’Donnell, a research fellow with the CER think tank. "We had three countries with three different approaches to defence that were impossible to reconcile."