Will Britain take Europe’s hand?

Published on 2 July 2014 at 15:54

“Great Britain is part of Europe,” writes French daily Le Monde in its editorial of 2 July, judging the furor around the European Commission presidency “has brought back the spectre of a ‘Brexit’”.
The daily shares the view of Wolfgang Schäuble that a Brexit would be “absolutely unacceptable”, citing a Financial Times interview in which the German finance minister affirms that

historically, politically, democratically, culturally, Great Britain is entirely indispensable for Europe.
Schäuble says in the interview that Britain and Germany are “clearly” partners when it comes to economic reform in the EU. The Financial Times cites the minister —
It is not just Germany that should reach out to the UK. The UK is vital to the EU and all its institutions and member states should listen to what London has to say.
However, as Le Monde argues —
… it’s getting harder and harder to accommodate the mood swings across the Channel. Because, what do the British really want? They themselves have great difficulty formulating concrete claims, beyond creating an uproar over the Brussels bureaucracy largely shared in Europe. [...] The British elites must urgently find their way back to the path of reason and responsibility, look the “Brexit” square in the eyes and draw their conclusions. Before it’s too late.

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