Damage is done

A bit more compassion for the British, please

Source of the photo: L’Express

Tomorrow comes

Sorrow becomes his soul mate

The damage is done

The prodigal son is too late.

In exactly one year, the unthinkable will happen. The United Kingdom will officially leave the European Union. A year ago, all the discussions were about damage control. In those days, we, the folks at the Eurobubble, at least organized and attended debates about the possible scenarios. By now, we have got bored and just want to get over it as soon as possible. If we are not obliged to follow the details par office, most of us just ignore the invitations for Brexit-related events and scroll down quickly on “Brexit 360º” and “Brexit Views”. We have also learnt that it won’t pass without a serious loss. Especially for the British.

I know that it has become a cliché to compare Brexit to an extremely painful divorce or break-up, but following the traditions of the CFEP’s blog, I just can’t help quoting James Blunt’s song Billy once again:

He knows the price that he’s paid
He admits that it’s too late to admit that he’s afraid.

Before the referendum, no one has thought over how strong and wide-ranging the ties are between a Member State and the EU. People started to google the morning after the results. Yes, the UK is about to regain their beloved national sovereignty, but they won’t be able to do much with it, when British citizens will feel the loss in every single minute of their life, ranging from access to Netflix on holidays to the super-delicate issue of the Northern Irish border. At the same time, they will still be under the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice and have to pay a heavy bill to the EU.

Even if we don’t care that much anymore about the Brexit in the Eurobubble, it is still very fashionable to make sarcastic jokes on the British government inability to handle the situation and to propose meaningful solutions. But if I may suggest something for Good Friday and all the other days of the upcoming year as well, I would call for a bit more compassion towards the British.

Let’s be honest, Theresa May is one of the least attractive prime ministers ever. She reminds me constantly of Cruella De Vil from the One Hundred and One Dalmatians. But I insist that it is simply unfair to be sarcastic about her efforts whatever she does. When she goes for a national tour to reassure people that everything would be fine post-Brexit, she is doing the only possible thing that a responsible politician can do. Don’t forget that it was her predecessor, David Cameron who started this pure craziness. But he left after he learnt what he had done. It is for Theresa and the whole British administration to clear up the mess after him. And we all know how difficult it is to get the best out of a completely screwed situation.

No doubts, the damage is done. But we might also think over where we are heading in our countries. Because the Italian elections have already shown how easy it is to win elections by calling on identity politics and distorted reality. The same thing will happen next Sunday in Hungary. Last year, we had some relief after the Dutch general election and the French presidential ones. But we are still very close to suddenly get into to the same madness as the British are now.