- Thu Aug 10, 2017 12:35 pm
#515779
Bitter at making zero progress the Torygraph has come up with a bizarre rant; the British are easy going liberals while foreigners in the EU are just spiteful money grabbing bastards
Britain wants friendship, the EU wants a fight
At the heart of the EU negotiations is money. Brussels has an ideological perspective, but it also needs cash – and for all its complaint that Brexit is a betrayal of solidarity and liberalism, it is Britain’s annual net contribution of £10.8 billion to the EU’s budget that Europe will really miss.
The EU wants to squeeze as much money out of Britain as possible. it is Britain’s annual net contribution of £10.8 billion to the EU’s budget that Europe will really miss. If the Brexit talks appear stalled, that is why. The EU wants to squeeze as much money out of Britain as possible.
Britain would Mr Barnier wants Britain to agree a divorce bill “methodology” that, in the view of the UK, contains no guarantees about future relations. Not only is this unreasonable, but it betrays the vastly different perspectives of London and Brussels.
Granted, there is a lot of debate within the UK government over what post-Brexit Britain will look like, but its goal in these negotiations is essentially pragmatic: perhaps pay a little money to plug the EU’s finances in exchange for a long-term free-trade relationship that benefits everyone. It is the Europeans who are spoiling for a fight, the Europeans who want tie everything up in endless rows and make it appear as if Britain is paying the price for its alleged nationalism. rather it didn’t.
The British are simply on the look-out for a good bargain, to part with the Europeans as friends we can do business with. Brussels, by contrast, is stubbornly bureaucratic, opaque and prepared to cut off its nose to spite its face. And that is exactly why Britain voted to leave the EU in 2016. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2017 ... nts-fight/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;