Xavier Bettel is the prime minister of Luxembourg. And yesterday he got angry. Superficially he was angry with Boris Johnson, who had refused to take part in a pre-arranged open-air press conference. But that, I am quite sure is not the whole reason for his anger. Bettel has a reputation for being easy-going and slow to anger. That he was the EU prime minister to show his frustration says something is seriously amiss.
And of course, it is. It is entirely reasonable for the member states of the EU to be angry with the UK. Our ministers have proved to be incompetent negotiators. They have not known what they have wanted. As a result they have not known how to achieve their goals. As a consequence they have made tactical errors, and maybe made inappropriate concessions without even appreciating why. And they have then been unable to deliver on a deal that the EU negotiated in good faith and with competence. Subsequently, the UK's ministers have lied and prevaricated, but done nothing constructive to address the issues.
Yesterday the resulting anger flowed over. Dealing with perpetual incompetence is very hard, in itself. Dealing with bombast, hubris and even straightforward lying from the incompetent party is harder still. The EU's member states have had to suffer that from our ministers. And a point was reached when something had to be said.
It appeared that point was reached yesterday. I think that was appropriate. There is a time when, just occasionally the right thing to do is make clear you've had enough. It is then quite acceptable to make clear there are boundaries and to do so in no uncertain terms. The incompetent party has to be told that it is they who have to put matters right, and it is they who is at fault. That is not bullying. Nor is it aggression. It is simply making clear that for a relationship to exist there has to be mutual respect and that the incompetent party is failing to deliver that, precisely because it has not made the effort to be competent. That is not just disrespectful: when competence should be expected of those being disrespectful it is abusive. It might even be described as passive-aggressive bullying, precisely because it is intended to provoke a reaction.
The UK has its reaction. I suspect Dominic Cummings will think that this is something to celebrate. Actually, it's evidence of the national humiliation we are enduring. If Brexit had to be done, the least that could be asked was that it was done well. But it has not been, and not by a very long way. We set out on a path without knowing why and to where it might lead. Those engaged for the UK did not address the issues and did not appraise the risks correctly. Now they are floundering, very badly, and the world has had enough. It will only get worse from here.
Xavier Bettel was right to get annoyed yesterday. And he was right to show it. He will not be the last to do so.
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Hi Richard,
Agreed. The comparison between our politicians and those from the EU/EU countries has been extremely unflattering for the UK. Calm competence from the EU has been contrasted with what I could only describe as hysterical idiocy!
“And a point was reached when something had to be said.”
I would say that point was reached a very long time ago 🙁
Although I’ve no inside information (lol), viewed from the outside I agree with your rational assessment. It is shameful. However …. what if it is just a strategic charade? What if Boris is intentionally yanking the EU’s chain? Then he can say to the country something like: “Look I did everything possible right up until the last minute but they were immovable and I’m not prepared to make any concessions that are not in the long-term interest of the country …. rhubarb, rhubarb”. As John Crace would say ‘Classic Dom’.
Number 10 definitely has a Game Plan that it’s obviously not going to share with the outside world. Commentators are trying to double-guess what it might be. I doubt that today’s headlines about him being ‘frit’ or ‘impolite’ will cause BJ any sleepless nights. And, as has been suggested, they might even re-enforce his standing among some voters, viz. https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/brexit/9935974/boris-confident-deal-can-be-done.
For Bullingdon Club alumni the world is their playground.
That is possible, of course
I am suggesting that the world should see through it
John D says:
“… what if it is just a strategic charade? What if Boris is intentionally yanking the EU’s chain? ”
I’m fairly sure that’s exactly what he is doing. Or trying to do.
But his speech from the podium in Luxembourg was probably his clearest most lucid speech ever. (Not a very high bar, admittedly.)
We, and all of Europe, now knows what Boris has to say: Nothing.
He makes Irritable Duncan Smith’s ‘Quiet Man’ (of whom he suggested we should not underestimate the determination) look like a mere novice. We now have ‘The invisible Quiet Man’. (Man…..? Well, an overgrown incarnation of Richmal Crompton’s Willam)
Political grandstanding. Demonstrates without a doubt what poor quality our political class is, to choose Boris as PM, a person unable to cope with a bit of heckling – it doesn’t matter if it was staged or not – it shows how unpopular the UK is that there was confidence this would be popular in the EU, but clearly demonstrates our new PM’s lack of ability in politics – real politics, politics that requires skills in ,,, well, politics.
I’m going off on a tangent now – I was curious about the Saudi oil refinery explosion, how that related to the global oil/political manoeuvring – then heard this morning that the US is blaming Iran directly. So, assuming that brexit is related to the Saudi/US/Iran/petrodollar battle (Iran trying to buy and sell oil in Euros), this event seems significant. Say the preferred outcome, for the US, is the destabilisation of the EU so the Euro is unable to compete against the petrodollar, but this seems very unlikely, brexit seems to have strengthened the EU politically. But, is the EU sufficiently distracted by Brexit while the oil wars are happening? Is that all that is required really, distraction?
Or even, is this building up to the government-needed ‘war’ (ref the WW1 parallels article you’ve recently posted) – a crisis of its own making – but I could not see any popular support for this (does that even matter to this government?). There were no fatalities in the Yemen-claimed bombing – very careful terrorists – less public outrage. Interesting anyway. And all this does not change any of the harmful outcomes of brexit that will be imposed on us.