Selmayr’s great folly

ARE the deranged bureaucrats running the European Commission determined to damage the continent’s security in the pursuit of their grand Federalist project?

For how else to explain the decision – made by Jean-Claude Juncker’s sidekick, the German Eurofanatic Martin Selmayr – to try to exclude Britain from the Galileo satellite project after Brexit?

Unsurprisingly, his posturing has enraged Europe’s elected leaders, whose citizens will be at risk if terror cooperation collapses.

If this jumped-up Eurocrat thinks he can use Galileo to teach Britain a lesson over Brexit he’s chosen the wrong issue. This country’s considerable military spending and world-leading intelligence services – including GCHQ – mean the cards are stacked strongly in our favour.

Far too often Britain’s negotiators have underplayed their hand. But rightly they have now issued an ultimatum: access to Galileo or our £1billion investment back, with the threat that Britain could go it alone.

If this skirmish proves anything, it is that long-neglected preparations for no deal must be accelerated.

As for Mr Selmayr, he should turn his attention to the real threats to his crumbling empire: Italy, crippled by debt and run by a ragtag coalition united only by loathing for Brussels, and the remorseless rise of Eurosceptic opinion across more than half the continent.