The leaked report of the meeting in Downing Street on April 26th printed in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagzeitung (FAZ) and translated via a series of tweets (HERE) showed just how far apart the two sides are. Mr Juncker is said to have called Angela Merkel the following morning and described Mrs May as being in "another galaxy".
I note that no one in Downing Street has cast doubt on the accuracy of the report only that it is Brussels "gossip". In fact it all sounds remarkably believable to me. David Davis comes across as a bit of a fool while Mrs May, so it was claimed, had not been briefed on some things. She also sounded like the controlling, socially awkward person she often appears to be. The gap between the UK and the EU is not narrowing and is still at the fundamental level. We seem to think it will all be very easy and quick while the EU think it will be complex, slow and painful - for both sides.
Now Mrs May has attacked the EU, accusing it of interference in the election (HERE). She says "Threats against Britain have been issued by European politicians and officials". This is the person let us remember who wrote the Article 50 letter linking security cooperation with a good trade deal which many people saw as a threat. She claims the leaks were deliberately timed to coincide with the general election and came from the Commission but, in an attempt to put a wedge between Berlin and Brussels, said other leaders in Europe were sympathetic to the British position
No doubt there will be more shaking of heads in Brussels. They have now tried privately and publicly to make those on our side see that the withdrawal and trade agreements are going to be very difficult and that we will be the losers - even in the best circumstances. They will now be aware that the delusions we have been under for the past year are still firmly in place.
The negotiations have not even started yet but already the atmosphere is darkening. I do not even think we have reached the bottom yet. We are in a weak position but have not yet accepted it. It is like a heavyweight taking on a cocky and argumentative flyweight. The lighter man cannot forget the rhetoric he used before the fight and keeps getting up only to be knocked down again and again.
This morning's Telegraph leader (HERE) says, "The next five years promise to be the most critical in this country’s recent history. If our so-called allies in the EU are determined to make us suffer then we need to look after our own interests as an independent nation". This is the problem, we wanted to take back control but still rely on our "allies" to help us. I have always argued that they were our allies, now they are our competitors. The Telegraph has just woke up to this awkward fact.
For over sixty years the EU has existed to bring the people of Europe together, to resolve differences by talking and in a spirit of cooperation. I never thought it would be Britain's role to break up that consensus - it is utterly shaming.
