This morning the Guardian headlines with, “Theresa May pleads with EU27 for Brexit deal she can defend.” I seem to remember not too long ago that David Cameron found himself doing the exact same thing.
The difference of course is that David went to Europe to avert the possibility of a vote against staying in the Union. He wasn’t looking for much, just a little sweetener, a bit of give and take, something he could go back to the British people with to swing the vote in favour of continuing British EU membership.
In their blindness and arrogance, the other leaders told David to fuck off. They said it was a British matter and it was up to him and his Tory party to sort it out. Obviously none of them believed for a moment that the British people would dare vote to leave the EU. They could never, in their insulated lives with their pack mentality, imagine Britain having the courage to go it alone. They got that one very wrong, didn’t they?
Now it is the turn of another civilized patient leader from the UK to once again plead for common sense to prevail. Theresa simply wants to avoid a hard BREXIT. She would like to move the conversation away from punishing the UK for its democratic decision and concentrate instead on how we can all get on in the future with the minimum disruption.
I blamed the EU leaders for the British vote because they left Cameron hang out to dry. They could have done many positive things for the UK which would have resulted in a different vote, but they didn’t. They chose to sneer at the British instead and delighted in their discomfort.
I predict if they do that again with May then the EU economy will also suffer badly, starting with Germany’s biggest industry, cars. If the British find themselves alone with their backs to the wall then they will get creative and resourceful. They’ve done it before. They have a way of closing ranks in their National interest when they have no other choice.
With the problems in Catalonia and the Basque country, Muslim violence in Western Europe, growling in Hungary and Poland and a committed eurosceptic taking over in Austria, now is the time for the EU to show good leadership and understanding.
Sadly, I do not believe there is a single one of them capable of it, but I hope I’m wrong.