[Sephiroth]

Originally Posted by jonbxx

Who didn't see the 'Brexit is the fault of the EU' argument coming? I thought Brexit was the route to the land of opportunity and people voted leave for a brighter future, not because French people were nasty to them.

There is a wider point in my argument, Jon.

The EU itself is reflecting on how to avoid another exit and what it was about the EU that was unattractive to the UK. Barnier has very recently said as much:

https://www.politico.eu/article/mich...racy-brussels/

A divorce between the EU and one of its members “can happen elsewhere if we’re not paying attention,” former chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said Tuesday, adding that one of the lessons he learned in the job was a need for “less bureaucracy, more democracy” in Brussels.

He also said (my emphasis added):

What might be a positive” to take from the Brexit process “is the warning signal it represents,” Barnier said. “But frankly, Brexit is a lose-lose situation. It’s a divorce. No one can say a divorce is positive. It’s a weakening … for us, who are amputated of this country … and for the United Kingdom, which finds itself on its own, in distant waters, facing the United States, China and Russia.

I've not seen any EU muscle on Russia, China, USA, maybe you have, Jon. Indeed, quite the contrary:

a) German dependence on Russian gas;

b) EU has signed an investment agreement with China ;

c) EU/US relations are all over the place. https://ecfr.eu/publication/the-cris...idens-america/ A small extract below:

- Europeans’ attitudes towards the United States have undergone a massive change. Majorities in key member states now think the US political system is broken, and that Europe cannot just rely on the US to defend it.

- They evaluate the EU and/or their own countries’ systems much more positively than that of the US – and look to Berlin rather than Washington as the most important partner.