1988 speech by Margaret Thatcher in Bruges, Belgium
Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in 1987
The Bruges speech was given by British prime minister Margaret Thatcher to the College of Europe at the Belfry of Bruges, Belgium, on 20 September 1988. Thatcher was opposed to any moves to transition the European Economic Community (EEC) into a federal Europe that would take powers away from its members. She considered European Commission president Jacques Delors a campaigner for federalisation and clashed with him publicly. Earlier in 1988, Delors had reaffirmed his commitment for the EEC to take a greater role in establishing European economic, fiscal and social legislation, which Thatcher considered provocative. On 8 September, Delors spoke to Britain's Trades Union Congress, calling for their support.
Thatcher had been invited to speak to the College of Europe in Bruges and decided to make her text a response to Delors' speech of 8 September. Thatcher's speech recounted Britain's history within and close connection to Europe and called for the EEC to resist a move towards centralisation of power. She called for reforms to the Common Agricultural Policy and for the EEC to continue to support the work of NATO. One of the most famous and controversial passages was her remark that "we have not embarked on the business of throwing back the frontiers of state at home only to see a European superstate getting ready to exercise a new dominance from Brussels".
Despite its commitment that Britain would work within the EEC to reform it, the speech was perceived as anti-Europe. The speech exposed a divide in the Conservative Party between those favouring federalisation and the majority who opposed it. Thatcher's foreign secretary Geoffrey Howe was greatly affected by the speech; his later support, with Chancellor of the Exchequer Nigel Lawson, for Britain to join the European Exchange Rate Mechanism eventually led to Thatcher's resignation. The Bruges Group, a British Eurosceptic think tank, was named after the speech. Some have described it as "setting the UK on the path to Brexit".
The Brugesspeech was given by British prime minister Margaret Thatcher to the College of Europe at the Belfry of Bruges, Belgium, on 20 September 1988...
the North. Bruges has significant economic importance, thanks to its port, and was once one of the world's chief commercial cities. Bruges is a major...
opened in Bruges, Belgium, a second campus located in Warsaw, Poland, and a third one established in Tirana, Albania. The College of Europe in Bruges was founded...
on 6 September 2018. Retrieved 6 September 2018. "Speech to the College of Europe ('The BrugesSpeech')". Margaret Thatcher Foundation. 20 September 1988...
10: 4–10 – via ResearchGate. Margaret Thatcher, Speech to the College of Europe ("The BrugesSpeech"), 20 September 1988 Stephen Haseler, Super-State:...
previously supported the common market and the Single European Act, in the Brugesspeech of 1988 warned against "a European super-state exercising a new dominance...
fight against European integration after the Brugesspeech. On 16 May 1994, Powell spoke at the Bruges Group and said Europe had "destroyed one Prime...
was the first major Eurosceptic speech to be given by a serving Prime Minister since Margaret Thatcher's Brugesspeech in 1988, and would mark the beginning...
breakdown. Below is listed YouGov's demographic breakdown. In his victory speech, Johnson described the result as a mandate for leaving the EU and promised...
Background European Communities Act 1975 EC membership referendum UK rebate Brugesspeech No. No. No. Maastricht Rebels Black Wednesday European Union (Amendment)...
Herbert Spencer in his Social Statics.[non-primary source needed] In a speech to the Conservative Women's Conference on 21 May 1980, Thatcher appealed...
European Community to supersede British sovereignty. In a famous 1988 Brugesspeech, Thatcher declared: "We have not successfully rolled back the frontiers...
date). 1180 – Damme harbour built near Bruges. 1223 – St. Salvator's Church rebuilt. 1240 – Belfry of Bruges built in the Markt (approximate date). 1244 –...
political integration which she opposed. That year she warned in the Brugesspeech of "a European super-state exercising a new dominance from Brussels"...
Background European Communities Act 1975 EC membership referendum UK rebate Brugesspeech No. No. No. Maastricht Rebels Black Wednesday European Union (Amendment)...
law. During 2015, the group established a fake company to gain entry to a speech being given by Prime Minister David Cameron at the Confederation of British...
Background European Communities Act 1975 EC membership referendum UK rebate Brugesspeech No. No. No. Maastricht Rebels Black Wednesday European Union (Amendment)...
referendum UK rebate Brugesspeech No. No. No. Black Wednesday EEA Maastricht Rebels UK Opt-outs The European Union: In or Out Bloomberg speech Russian interference...
increased during the early 2010s, Prime Minister David Cameron delivered a speech in January 2013 at Bloomberg London, in which he called for reform of the...
Background European Communities Act 1975 EC membership referendum UK rebate Brugesspeech No. No. No. Maastricht Rebels Black Wednesday European Union (Amendment)...
Cleverly described the prorogation of Parliament followed by a Queen's Speech as something "all new governments do", President of the United States Donald...
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