Demotix/Reynaldo C. Paganelli. All rights reserved.It was short-sighted and self-defeating of Angela Merkel, following the surprise result of the UK elections, when she opted for stressing that the European Union was “ready” to start with the Brexit negotiation, so please “stick to the time plan”.
Although she went on to say that "Britain is part of Europe”, at the core, her message reiterated the old refrain that the EU countries would be "asserting the interests of the 27 member states that will make up the European Union in future" during the Brexit negotiations. This position is surely driven by the upcoming German elections. However, Ms. Merkel is failing to grasp the great opportunity provided by the UK result: to reverse or minimize Brexit. This would circumvent the trap of European reliance on Berlin that places the entire weight of leadership solely on the German’s shoulders, with the concrete risk of making her the scapegoat for the Union’s problems.
Macron, on the contrary, has understood this danger very well. Thus, he has wisely congratulated May while adding that “the friendship between France and the UK is strong and it will overcome any difficulty”. Macron is quite right in adopting a cautions approach, as the United Kingdom is still, despite its controversial stance, a strategic partner for those who aim to “refound” the European Union. By the same logic financial analysts who keep saying that a hung parliament is the worst possible electoral outcome, are making a mistake. But at the end of the day they are paid to elaborate short-term provisions and not to understand the far more dynamic and longterm phenomena that make up politics.
