I find this fascinating and illuminating:
France's foreign minister [Ayrault] called on Saturday for the European Union to move ahead quickly to seal the terms of a British exit, arguing that the other 27 members needed to give the bloc new purpose or risk populism taking hold. ...
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker told German newspaper Bild that Britain must consider what kind of a relationship it wanted with the EU but it could not pick and choose.
"There will definitely not be any cherry picking," he said. ...
Ayrault said Saturday's meeting should not focus too much on a plan drawn up by German and French officials for a flexible EU that would envisage "allowing space" for member states that are not ready for further integration. "We shouldn't fixate on the idea of flexibility. There already is a two-speed Europe," he said. ...
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, hosting Saturday's meeting, struck a more cautious note but said it was essential to preserve the "project of freedom and stability" that the six founding EU members had forged.
Ponder those reactions. What a bloody giveaway!
Having voters decide a great issue is dangerous "populism," showing how distasteful democracy is to the EU boosters--and apparently how unpopular the EU really is below the level of EU bureaucrats.
You are either with the EU or against it. All in or all out. There is no flexibility in how you can have a relationship with Europe. Europe sets the terms and that's it. Bend the knee and submit to be absorbed by the EU or be cast out and isolated and punished. Perhaps Norway should rethink whether the EU will long accept their current sort-of-in status.
Note the Orwellian language of the German minister who does not recognize free people voting and having their government act in accordance with those votes really is freedom at its most basic level. As for stability? There's the old prejudice of the European elites that Europe's history of war is the fault of the masses of warmongering people who pushed their enlightened elites to war again and again over the centuries.
Kill this proto-empire before it is a danger to Europeans and to America.
We fought two hot wars and one cold war to prevent Europe from coming under the control of a single hostile power. Why should we want the Euro-elites to forge exactly such a threat?
The EU doesn't even have the legitimacy of a moistened bint lobbing a scimitar at the European Commission.
UPDATE: The reaction of the pro-EU side to ignore democracy and vilify those who voted against the EU pretty much highlights why Britain needs to get out of the EU.
UPDATE: Ways to avoid the will of the people. If the British government ignores the will of the people who want to avoid control by the EU which ignores the will of the people, the British people have bigger problems than the autocratic EU proto-empire.
