I’m more glad than ever we’re leaving
THERESA May is constantly accused by Remainers of being zealous, obdurate and unrealistic in the demands she is making in negotiations with our European Union partners.
Whether she deserves any of these epithets is a matter of opinion. I would prefer to say she is tough, singleminded and pretty beady- eyed. But what no one can reasonably pretend is that she has been rude, overbearing or threatening towards our European friends.
And yet these are the characteristics a number of European leaders have been displaying over the past few days. Have our own ultra-Remainers complained? Of course not. When Mrs May is tough, they say she is hysterical. But when EU leaders are hysterical, they keep quiet.
It wasn’t statesmanlike of France’s President Francois Hollande to reiterate over the weekend what he has said before – namely, there would ‘ inevitably be a price and a cost for the UK’ and that ‘Britain will have a weaker position in the future outside Europe than it has today within Europe’.
Nor was it very friendly of German Chancellor Angela Merkel – hitherto one of the most level-headed of EU leaders – to speak scornfully of British ‘illusions’ in the Bundestag last Thursday.
As for the puffed up Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission, he’s said to have told Mrs Merkel that Mrs May was ‘in a different galaxy’. He later accused her of ‘ underestimating’ how complex the process would be. The suggestion is that she isn’t all there.
This is not the normal language of diplomacy between allies. One might expect the risible (though lethal) Kim Jong-un, dictator of North Korea, to throw similar insults at President Donald Trump or other prospective enemies. But surely not supposedly sensible European politicians.
We have every right to be offended. The whole approach of the EU elite seems calculated to be aggravating. In just four minutes on Saturday, European leaders agreed a hardline stance on Brexit at a meeting in Brussels.
They are insisting – as though Britain were some pathetic little petitioner rather than a great nation state – that the Govern- ment must follow their timetable. First, we must agree to stump up a ‘divorce settlement’ of £50billion.
Then, in the provocative words of European Council President Donald Tusk, we must make a ‘serious response’ regarding EU citizens in Britain after Brexit, though he conveniently forgets that Mrs May wanted to settle the matter before Christmas but was stymied by Mrs Merkel.
Only when these matters have been concluded in a way satisfactory to Brussels – along with the issue of the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, which is part of the EU – will it deign to discuss Britain’s future trade relations with the bloc.
The combination of these bullying negotiation techniques and incendiary language is enough to make one’s blood boil. This is no way for friendly states to behave.
Nor can I help reflecting that, 73 years ago next month, Britain supplied some 40 per cent of the troops in the D- Day landing, which led to the liberation of Europe – or that part of it not occupied by the Soviet Union.
The spectacle of some European leaders sinking so readily to invective against the country to which they owe so much of their freedom – well, it is hard to stomach. Even now Europe still relies on Britain to a significant degree for its defence. Is this really the way to address a resilient and important ally?
So, like millions of others no doubt, I find myself resenting this aggression from leaders who at the very least owe us a degree of respect. I don’t think we should feel in any way intimidated – though some intransigent Remainers will encourage us to be so.
For the fact is that reasonable people usually only act unreasonably when they feel threatened. The orchestrated show of seeming solidarity in Brussels on Saturday was a performance designed to convey that the EU is united, confident and buoyant. But it isn’t any of those things. It is an organisation in crisis which has lost the support of near-majorities of the populace even in countries such as Italy, which has traditionally been wedded to the EU. No longer.
DON’T
blame the French when Hollande invokes calamity for Britain. He speaks only on behalf of the French political class and the EU elite, not the French people. Many of those, very possibly a majority, are as sceptical of the EU as the British showed themselves to be in last June’s referendum.
In many countries there is a rising tide of scepticism as a result of the doomed euro project, which has frustrated growth and induced despair among ordinary people.
What we saw in Brussels at the weekend was an institution pretending to be much tougher and more united than it is. I strongly suggest that it is not in the interests, or even within the capabilities, of this flagging organisation to throttle Britain.
Moreover, Hollande will shortly be replaced, probably by the business-friendly Emmanuel Macron, believed by some to be more sympathetic to Britain. Mrs Merkel’s every word is tempered by political consideration before this autumn’s German elections. If, as seems likely, she wins, she will strike a pragmatic deal with this country.
And, even if the French political class forgets the debt France owes to Britain, we have numerous friends throughout Europe. They may have gone along with the pantomime in Brussels, but once negotiations are under way they will act as a check on Juncker.
Remainers may be trembling at the knees, but nothing that happened in Brussels on Saturday should make us scared – though watching that empty rigmarole, and hearing those bogus threats, I’m more glad than ever that Britain is leaving the EU.