Interesting developments on Europe’s most stubborn island:

Britain is considering joining the eurozone as a direct consequence of global financial turmoil, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said Sunday.

“We are now closer than ever before. I’m not going to break the confidentiality of certain conversations, but some British politicians have already told me: ‘If we had the euro, we would have been better off’,” Barroso told a weekly French news programme, referring to the fall in the pound’s value since markets and liquidity meltdown earlier this year.

“The British have an enormous quality, one of many, that is they are pragmatic,” he said on the panel of a joint RTL-LCI radio and television broadcast. “This crisis has emphasised the importance of the euro, and also of Britain,” he added.

Sweden rejected joining the euro in a referendum in 2003. Some liberal politicians recently suggested it’s about time to consider a second vote on the issue. I think they’re right. I want Sweden, Britain, Denmark, and other EU countries with national currencies to adopt the single currency as soon as possible.

Speaking of the EU, in this week’s issue of The Economist, the anonymous—and often Eurosceptic—columnist who writes under the pseudonym Charlemagne, praises Europe for its surprising labour flexibility. I’m one those who have lived and worked in another EU country, and I have often be astonished by the pessimism expressed my some Eurosceptic socialists and conservatives who seem to think language barriers make it impossible for people to take advantage of Europe’s open borders. Unfortunately, these merchants of doom make others think they are right. They are not. The European Union has its faults. Its bureaucracy is hideous, and its institutions need a radical makeover. But sound criticism should not prevent us from acknowledge that we are the first Europeans in centuries who are able to live, work, and travel freely thanks to the establishment of this union.

This progress towards a free and united Europe would be helped by Britain and Sweden joining the euro.