Brexit will show Britain the strength of the EU
This week demonstrated a new height in weird and peculiar statements from the government on Brexit:
Instantly social media was awash with people making fun of how obvious this should be, that a union of countries would unite when faced with a common challenge, especially when said countries belong to the European Union.
But more than just government incompetence, it could demonstrate a fundamental block in British thinking around international relations in the 21st Century and what the EU actually does stand for.
While people did make fun of Theresa May's statements, it cannot be doubted that there a number of British people, both in general and in the political and media classes, who really feel a degree of offence at the fact that other countries would join up together in order to protect common interests against actions that Britain has taken. There is a real sense in which little to no value or thought is given to the idea of countries uniting as a group, not just cooperating as separate nations.
By undertaking the Brexit project, it may force a large number of Brexiteers and Leave voters to recognise the reality that individual EU countries are made stronger when they act as a group. Where Britain might have been able to succeed if it could have played countries off against each other, against a united front Britain is left much weaker and very much the junior partner in any EU-UK relationship, no matter how it is measured.
It's quite likely that there is a cynical logic at play on the part of the government, getting in their excuses early, preparing the ground in order to shift the blame to the EU when negotiations and Brexit do not deliver all that was promised. However, there is also probably a degree of real surprise and frustration at the EU's unified position. How Theresa May, a noted control freak, manages to deal with this frustration, could make for some exciting political theatre over the next two years.
Too many in the UK still view the EU as a collection of countries working together for their own benefit. The reality is that it is a union of countries who work together for their own benefit and the benefit of all. This is why strategies that were anchored on playing countries off against one another were flawed. They could see individual interests for France or Germany, but could not see the common, EU-wide, interests, that were shared.
The reality, that may be slowly dawning on the UK government, is that they are not negotiation with a grand bag of individual member state interests that are all competing, though that likely does play a role, if a more minor one. Instead, they are negotiating with a single sheet of EU interests. The desires of German car manufacturers or French vineyards do not matter nearly as much as securing the rights of EU citizens, not opening up the Single Market to exceptionalism and guaranteeing the integrity of the EU across its (soon to be) 27 states.
This is a vision of Union that British politicians and media have rarely understood or sought to understand. This is why in debates around EU membership, the strength of acting together was never really valued. It was not seen as anything more impressive than the collective action that you might see from any international organisation, such as the UN.
The reality is that the EU has produced a much deeper sense of unity among its members and yes this will mean EU states 'lining up' against British demands, precisely because they are not acting as 27 states but as one European Union, where what is best for all is best for one.
Certainly, EU states do not always act with such unity and the EU has sometimes been frozen in indecision due to internal disputes. Yet Brexit could be a catalyst to drive the point home that when it is absolutely necessary, the EU offers to its members a strength that is so much more than the sum of its parts.
#BREAKING UK PM Theresa May accuses EU 27 of lining up to oppose Britain over Brexit— AFP news agency (@AFP) April 27, 2017
Instantly social media was awash with people making fun of how obvious this should be, that a union of countries would unite when faced with a common challenge, especially when said countries belong to the European Union.
But more than just government incompetence, it could demonstrate a fundamental block in British thinking around international relations in the 21st Century and what the EU actually does stand for.
While people did make fun of Theresa May's statements, it cannot be doubted that there a number of British people, both in general and in the political and media classes, who really feel a degree of offence at the fact that other countries would join up together in order to protect common interests against actions that Britain has taken. There is a real sense in which little to no value or thought is given to the idea of countries uniting as a group, not just cooperating as separate nations.
By undertaking the Brexit project, it may force a large number of Brexiteers and Leave voters to recognise the reality that individual EU countries are made stronger when they act as a group. Where Britain might have been able to succeed if it could have played countries off against each other, against a united front Britain is left much weaker and very much the junior partner in any EU-UK relationship, no matter how it is measured.
Too many in the UK still view the EU as a collection of countries working together for their own benefit. The reality is that it is a union of countries who work together for their own benefit and the benefit of all. This is why strategies that were anchored on playing countries off against one another were flawed. They could see individual interests for France or Germany, but could not see the common, EU-wide, interests, that were shared.
The reality, that may be slowly dawning on the UK government, is that they are not negotiation with a grand bag of individual member state interests that are all competing, though that likely does play a role, if a more minor one. Instead, they are negotiating with a single sheet of EU interests. The desires of German car manufacturers or French vineyards do not matter nearly as much as securing the rights of EU citizens, not opening up the Single Market to exceptionalism and guaranteeing the integrity of the EU across its (soon to be) 27 states.
This is a vision of Union that British politicians and media have rarely understood or sought to understand. This is why in debates around EU membership, the strength of acting together was never really valued. It was not seen as anything more impressive than the collective action that you might see from any international organisation, such as the UN.
The reality is that the EU has produced a much deeper sense of unity among its members and yes this will mean EU states 'lining up' against British demands, precisely because they are not acting as 27 states but as one European Union, where what is best for all is best for one.
Certainly, EU states do not always act with such unity and the EU has sometimes been frozen in indecision due to internal disputes. Yet Brexit could be a catalyst to drive the point home that when it is absolutely necessary, the EU offers to its members a strength that is so much more than the sum of its parts.
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