Hello
Has no-one looked at Brexit from the EU’s point of view? France has been given £40 million for a refuge at Calais and now Michel Barnier and Claude Juncker have the cheek to say that we are setting out the wrong decisions for a future EU with the UK.
Firstly, the Customs Union. Before it was set up in the EU, I worked for a French company in the UK, whose products were often held up or lost in Customs. This made everyone lose money from the French manufacturer, the subsidiary and as it happened, British Aerospace. The Customs Union must have been a boon for the EU.
From a viewpoint on the chalk cliffs above Dover, in 2010, I watched ships entering the port laden with goods and leaving again with the plimsoll line well above the waterline, therefore empty. That meant that we were importing a lot more than we were exporting. Is that still happening? If so, this is a huge advantage to us when dealing with the EU. If they put prices up for import to the UK, we can just trade elsewhere, The Trans-Pacific Alliance, for example. Also, attacking our red lines in the sand makes M.Michel Barnier look hypocritical, not the behaviour expected of statesmen.
And M. Jean-Claude Juncker took a swipe at our English language being first in the world. Some French purists have always thought that, but you are making plans for the future, for our future citizens.
I am fed up with the EU’s top men (both French) riding roughshod over the UK and it is time we fought back. We should have demands about the Customs Union and trade with the EU, not timid murmurings that if it is alright with the EU, ‘x’ is what we should do. We are on the front foot here!
If prices from the EU go up, we will look elsewhere to trade. That is the EU’s real fear; they cover it in rhetoric.
My view? Yes to the Customs Union in that there should be no blockage of trade, yet our UK laws will supersede those of Europe. Yes to clarity for UK’s service industries, including finance, subsidies for agriculture and exporting and importing from the EU.
Brexit? We are sliding when we should be attacking. It has been on the News so much that I await tomorrow’s speech from Mrs Theresa May for clarification.
Let us hope that we have the courage to move forward with confidence. It is just a decision.
LucyLou
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