Paris and Berlin break out the angry words

Like jilted and verbally abusive lovers, Paris and Berlin are lashing out at London. French President Francois Hollande tried to diplomatic about it. But he certainly had a ‘tone.’ Speaking after a summit with fellow Europhile David Cameron, Hollande said, ‘If [Brexit] is for British voters to decide. It is not for me to warn or threaten. That would probably be counter-productive…But there will, of course, be consequences if Britain leaves the EU, including consequences for how we handle the question of immigration in Calais.’

Did you hear that Britain? If you leave Europe, the French will let those migrants right through Calais and into the UK. Of course there’s still the matter of crossing the channel. But that can be arranged.

It’s not a convincing argument, especially when part of the current problem is the EU can’t prevent illegal immigration on its southern border. Can you really argue that British border control will be better in the EU than outside it?

You can leave, but.

After Hollande was done dressing down the British public, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble had a dig. He said that if Britain leaves the EU, it would only be granted access to the single European market if it continued making contributions to the EU budget, accepted EU regulations, and guaranteed the freedom of movement of people within the Union.

You can leave. But if you leave, the only way we’ll trade with you is if you accept all of our terms and conditions and fees, with all the obligations of membership but only one of the benefits. Yep. That’s a crap deal.

It’s unlikely that French and German politicians think they can intimidate British voters. But they can scare undecided voters. It’s sad to see the so-called conservative government going along with the charade. But there’s hope.

Why?

From Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump to Jeremy Corbyn and the ‘surprising’ conservative win in the last UK election, media and political elites have badly misunderstood the real public mood. They are too cut off from real people and too cocooned in their own echo chambers to correctly sense the shifting political winds. To say they’re ‘out of touch’ is cliché. But it’s clearly true.

Whether the British public is genuinely fed up with the EU, or genuinely indifferent…that’s the big question. We’ll find out in in the coming months. But if the Germans and French aren’t careful, their attempts to warn, cajole, and threaten could backfire. It wouldn’t be the first time Britain stood alone against the tide of Europe.

Category: Brexit