Britain and the EU

During the How Euro Are You? programme, Andrew Marr will be discussing the issues with a panel of guests with wide-ranging ideas on the European Union. This is a selection of their views.

DAME TANNI GREY-THOMPSON, record breaking paralympic athlete

I'm genuinely in favour of Europe as I believe that, in terms of the way the world is going, we need to do as much as possible to foster co-operation.

There are things that I don't like about Europe but I believe that we have to be in it to change it.

We also need to do more to make the EU better understood, especially to young people. At the moment it feels like an exclusive political club and this is not healthy.

ANTONY WORRALL THOMPSON, chef

I'd like to be in Europe but not governed by it.

There's too much unnecessary wastage.

It's an inefficient operation which hasn't been proven to work.

PETER HITCHENS, Mail On Sunday columnist

Britain should withdraw amicably from the EU as soon as possible.

We gain nothing, economically or politically, from our membership which is not also available to non-members.

Our parliamentary government, common law, adversarial justice system and many other traditions and institutions are incompatible with those of the continental nations and cannot co-exist happily with them.

Our economic cycle, our global trade and our high level of home ownership mean that our economy will often - if not always - be out of step with those of the key EU countries.

As one of the largest economies in the world and one of its major military and diplomatic powers as well as the lucky possessor of the world's most widely-used language, we are quite capable of negotiating our own bilateral agreements with any nation we choose to deal with, and flexibility is far more use than size in a competitive world.

The plan to offer Turkey a "privileged partnership" with the EU - allowing most of the benefits of membership without actually becoming a member - offers a possible model for Britain.

Our relations with the EU nations would improve immensely once we were no longer trying to reach an impossible compromise between national independence and EU membership.

STEPHEN WALL, former Europe adviser to Tony Blair

If we were all nice people, we wouldn't need the EU. But our countries have a history of quarrelling.

We need the EU to minimise our differences and maximise what we can do together as democracies for peace, stability and prosperity in a dangerous world.

SARFRAZ MANZOOR, filmmaker and writer

I don't feel very European but I would like to.

Culturally I feel closer to the United States but politically I have more in common with Europe.

It was always the US which inspired me in terms of its ideals as well as its popular culture but I feel alienated by its belief that the free market is king.

The European model which suggests a greater role for state provision appeals to me far more.

I would like to feel more European but I suspect that the reason I do not is because I am not sure what it means to be European.

AMANDA PLATELL, broadcaster and journalist

I'm a Eurosceptic but not in favour of withdrawal.

The rejection of the EU constitution by France shows there is little stomach for fuller integration even in the most pro-European nations.

I believe we need renegotiation of agricultural policy and human rights legislation, both of which are possible and urgent.

Apart from its 70m predominantly Muslim population and the implications for terrorism, the biggest problem for Turkey's entry is its poverty and the eventual cost its people working here will have on our NHS, schools and other public services.

JULIA GASH, businesswoman

Europe provides us with massive opportunities.

We can now travel, live, study, run a business, own a property, retire and draw our pensions in 25 countries.

We live and work in a global market place and need international institutions that keep pace.

We hear much about red tape from Brussels but I know at first hand that universal legislation has benefited my business enormously.

The Britain I want is not a go-it-alone nation dominated by an island mentality but one which recognises that co-operation with our international neighbours is better than conflict, and sharing resources brings benefits to all.

ARMANDO IANNUCCI, writer and comedian

I find my heart and my head increasingly diverging over Europe.

At heart, I'm an instinctive European and would love the EU to work as an institution. I believe, whatever its flaws, it does act as a subtle safety-valve, easing pressure between rival European nations which would otherwise result in more aggressive conflict.

Far better we vent our frustration on an abstract Euro bureaucracy than against individual nations.

On the other hand, my head tells me that the current system simply doesn't connect with most Europeans: we're left confused by an unwieldy attempt to force 20 or so nations to behave as if they were all fundamentally the same.

I think most European citizens now see this as an impractical ideal, propagated by a political elite which has failed to consult them over why this is happening.

BRIDGET ROSEWELL, Chief Economist for Greater London Authority

Europe is great but the EU is a drag.

It thinks that the economy and society should be run like a handicap race. On a level playing field there can be winners, but in a handicap it is the pace of the slowest which governs progress.

This holds us all back.

WILL HUTTON, economist and writer

European societies are underpinned by a belief in fairness, in the equal importance of the public alongside the private and a belief that the rich have obligations to the societies of which they are part.

Britain is quintessentially a European society.

In an era of globalisation, it makes perfect sense to work with the other countries in the continent we share to protect and advance those values that would otherwise be much weaker.

Britsh history is part of Europe's history and Europe's story. The rules are no different now. To turn our back on Europe is to turn our back on ourselves.

How Euro Are You? was broadcast on Monday, 3 October, 2005 at 2100 BST on BBC Two and on this website.

You can also take the interactive test on the site.