March for an Different Europe in Rome, March 25, 2017. From DiEm25 facebook page.
As British Prime Minister Theresa May triggers Article 50, rendering Brexit inescapable, Europe is gripped by two paradoxes, both of which pose clear and present threats to the European Union and to Britain.
David Cameron – May's predecessor who lost the Brexit referendum – has reason to be puzzled by the upshot of his defeat. Britain is now leaving the EU because of his request for a "variable geometry" – allowing Britain to opt out of basic EU tenets – which was unceremoniously turned down by Berlin and, less consequentially, by Paris.
