NO
NO
Hell NO.
Then the French minister idiot, just before the referendum, telling us that if Britain left we would have all the world relevance of Guernsey...
Saturday dawns and the EU wakes up to what it has lost...
Italian finance minister Pier Carlo Padoan has said
"The UK was not only one amongst 28 (member states). It had a great weight because of its financial markets and its international influence,"
Pity they weren't thinking like that when Cameron was desperately fighting on the back foot to get anything at all to tell the people of the UK why they were better off in the EU.
Even more of a pity that they had not said that we were a strong, valuable, powerful, member of the EU and that they were grateful for our patronage. Rather than telling us that we were "only one of 28 and that we did not _deserve_ any special treatment".
Spiteful on my part? Absolutely. Untrue? Not a chance. They used our power, they used our money and every time we came to the table like Oliver and asked for "a little more", we were sent away with a flea in our ear.
Instead of listening to us and changing what they were doing, they went on blindly and allowed us to negotiate "opt outs". The reason for this is they, eventually, fully expected that we would give away our opt out's as we would never leave. This led to the situation where the other 27 saw us as "that nation which was always a special case and thought it was better than everyone else". Never mind the fact that they never listened to the UK saying that what they were doing was fundamentally against our principles and, even, constitution.
Then there is the irony of the German Foreign minister saying...
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said this morning that the EU would weather the shock of the British vote to leave the union as he convened crisis talks.
"I am confident that these countries can also send a message that we won't let anyone take Europe from us,"
Yep I know he meant US as in the other 27, but can you imagine how that can be clipped into a montage of video clips...
and of course..
After the shock result German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande led calls for the EU to reform in order to survive a traumatic divorce with Britain.
What so it wasn't good enough to reform for the UK but it's good enough to reform because you might lose Denmark, Sweden and Holland and.... God Forbid.... France....
Which just shows why Leave was the right result. Anything but leave and they would still be treating us as "that backwater nobody who's just good for money, military might and a permanent seat on the UN security Council we can use"....
Reality's a bitch aint it???
On the other side, another part of the reality strikes in the UK, or at least it should. Jean Claude Juncker
Mr Juncker said that Britain's departure was "not an amicable divorce" and talks should begin "immediately" on wrapping up what was never "a tight love affair anyway".
So, what, we vote to leave, democratically and it's "Not an amicable divorce". Ossie was right with Hotel California.. "You can check out any time you like but you can never leave". Except we are leaving and, apparently, the only amicable exit the EU will accept is one where they throw us out and we don't fight it.
Healthy relationship? More like I said earlier, abusive controlling husband. Now visible for the entire world to see.
Then Hollande chimes in
Mr Hollande indicated that he and Mr Ban did not feel withdrawal from the EU would throw Britain's permanent seat on the Security Council into question, saying the outcome of the vote "has no impact regarding where the UK stands within the United Nations system".
Yes M. Hollande, the only seat in question is yours because you are not a country any more... Interesting because now the EU only has one seat it's a relatively simple matter for the EU to take it over and vote it....
More harsh reality coming down the line to the EU "club" when they realise just what they have lost through their intransigence.
Not that it was ever likely to be any other way if you really knew the EU.
The Northern EU is now just waking up to the fact that their strongest partner in the EU is gone. They voted with us and we voted with them. Finland led a delegation to Blair to, quite literally, beg him to have his referendum on the Euro and Join. In the end they had to take second best with the UK having a non voting position on the board of the ECB but an advisory capacity for the smaller nations who needed the help.
Now they're going to have to find a way to stand on their own or leave.
Then there is the other dynamic which is being buried right now, like TTIP and the Turkish deal. We'll find out just how much of TTIP was aimed at US companies getting access to the UK market more than the rest of the EU. I wonder how fast it will go ahead now?? As for the Turkey deal? That will come out in the end and it will impact the Schengen countries but not the UK.
I wonder when they will start talking about all that security information they were getting from the UK/US partnership which will dry up in 2 years? They're going to have to develop their own capabilities and they have been complacent and relying on the UK and GCHQ and our links with the US.
In about a years time the EU is going to wonder what hit it when they start trying to play hard ball and we start cutting the balls of....
Acrimonious divorce? They haven't even begun to realise how much it's going to hurt when we leave.
