The United Kingdom always had one leg in the EU and one outside. That served a purpose: they saw things that the Dutch or French wouldn’t notice, Caroline de Gruyter writes. But they couldn’t get out of that outsider role anymore. Now many in Brussels want them to go.
Sir Ivan is right: the mirror function is a good metaphor for the long road to Brexit. The UK’s departure will be a big loss for the 27 remaining countries. They will miss that mirror badly. At official discussions, informal exchanges or Saturday dinners in Brussels with friends - it was often the British at the table who came up with that one striking comment that the others chewed on afterwards for days. When a Briton spoke, others often became quiet.
Such remarks kept other Europeans on their toes. It sharpened their thinking. At the same time, however, this already carried the seeds of Brexit. Former French MEP Jean-Louis Bourlanges once said that the British „have one leg inside the EU and one outside”. That has been true from the beginning. Brexit is the formalization of the British position as an outsider.
At the same time, many British felt uneasy with membership. „In other countries people were happy to join. They felt proud”, former Ambassador Ivan Rogers once said. „But for many of us, accession provoked a different sentiment: fear. This has gripped us since 1973.” In Brussels, everybody took notice. London often complained that it wasn’t consulted on the others’ political plans, even if it wanted nothing to do with it. It started battles on many fronts – against voting rights for prisoners, a minimum maternity leave, the Court of Justice, and even against European regulations that arose directly from disputes on the internal market. According to a former British official in Brussels: „After Maastricht our disaffection with Brussels started.
All the while, many British continued to hold up mirrors for other Europeans. But it became increasingly hard to discuss Europe with them: they seemed less eager to talk about the common story, focussing on themselves. The British position in Europe became the issue, not Europe itself. At times this could become a conversation killer. Once during a conversation about Spitzenkandidaten a Briton said that he didn’t care „whether those candidates end up in the mud or on Mars”.
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