Interesting perspective on Britain in the EU from Poland's former foreign minister, who apparently thinks extremely highly of us for some reason.
Originally shared by Joerg Fliege
On Brexit, and geopolitics
"Preventing the continent of Europe from uniting to the exclusion of Britain was a principle of British foreign policy for half a millennium. Wars were fought over it. The world would gasp in disbelief if the British now voluntarily excluded themselves, and this over social benefits for people who do not want them. Having lost an empire, the British have been at a loss for a new role. There is another nascent empire, just across the water, yearning to be led. If only the British would realise it."
http://app.ft.com/cms/s/91ac6432-cbf5-11e5-a8ef-ea66e967dd44.html
He probably never ate the food :-)
ReplyDeleteI feel many, both inside and outside of the EU, would be wary of Britain starting to rule an empire again. Others would say that it first need to take more independence from the US. Regardless of how accurate those opinions are, they may be a serious handicap.
ReplyDeleteThat said, the article has a point that Britain could help develop a more efficient EU foreign policy.
Maybe the EU should divide the tasks? Britain for leading diplomacy, France for military, Germany for the economy...
I can absolutely not see that going wrong somewhere!
Elie Thorne Indeed, many hard-line British Euroskeptics make the same argument toward Germany. They feel that we've giving to the Germans in peace what they couldn't gain in war. Which is of course taking things to ridiculous extremes, but few in Britain would support the notion of an "ever-closer union". I think the EU would be regarded a lot more favourably if it operated with a lighter touch. There are some areas I think it would be better left to individual countries to decide - there's no advantage to artificially forcing unity where none exists.
ReplyDeleteI think your idea of giving each country a specific role is intriguing and wish to subscribe to your newsletter.