Timothy Garton Ash in today's Guardian argues that President Bush's trip to Europe this week highlights the need for more European integration. He says that Bush has met too many different European politicians, and would prefer in future for the US president to merely meet to EU figures, rather than national government ones.

But perhaps it is healthy for EU member countries to have their own voice internationally. Why take twenty-five voices and reduce them on the international stage to just one? When EU members disagree isn't it a good thing that those dissenting voices get heard?

Ultimately, it comes down to whether you prefer competition or consensus. In the competition model, different governments pursue different policies and then we can go and see which policies work best. Similarly, businesses follow different strategies and product lines, some win the marketplace, others lose. In the consensus model, governments collude together and pursue the same policies. Similarly, businesses collude as an industry together, fix prices and get protection from the government. I favour competition - both in governments and in business.