Alexander Romanovich: the European Union should feel offended with itself but not with the British 27 èþíÿ 2016 Alexander Romanovich, Vice-Chairman of the State Duma made comments on the results of the UK’s referendum to leave the European Union: After a few days of the referendum on the UK’s membership of the EU, this event appears to be like a breached dam that has released a wild stream of widely differing opinions and reservations. There is an impression that if not particularly the apocalypse but, at least, the end of the Old World is sure to be approaching... But in reality everything is not as horrible as it may seem to be. They are more likely to have exaggerated the situation too much. I’ll take a try to raise doubts about the very essence of what happened. Is it possible, in general, to put such a complicated issue to the referendum? How could an ordinary British citizen make sense of the intricacies of his country’s relations with the EU? Moreover, is it reasonable to draw serious conclusions from such a "blind" and rather more emotional voting of the population of one country, and go into hysterics throughout one continent? Maybe, the British have stirred up this mayhem to demonstrate their individuality? What if Cameron did not mean to press the European Union, and therewith, try to bargain with Eurocrats additional privileges for "Foggy Albion"? Indeed, maybe it is Britain’s desire just to (I beg your pardon) show off, make all this fuss and see what will come of it? In case some complication emerges, tricky islanders may always backtrack and say there was nothing of this kind... It is not by chance that a message has already appeared which says more than 1.500 people have signed the petition calling for revision of the referendum results. This is more than enough required for a parliamentary debate. And besides, there is a backlash against what they ‘made in the UK’’ which emerged among the Brits who supported this "divorce" from the EU. After the polls were closed, and the referendum results announced, the British most often have been searching online for such questions as "What will happen if we leave the European Union?" or What is the European Union?". It means many people did not even have any notion about what they are going to leave, and where they will move later on.... In addition, news about offences began to shower. The EU members started to yell about desertion and the necessity to exclude an ‘impudent island student’ from the allegedly close-knit European form. The pound, which has always been reliable, slumped to the lowest level against the dollar since 2009 1.4. Cameron’s rating seems to be catching up with the pound losing its weight. The Media use both existent and non-existent threats (migrants, terrorism and even "Russian aggression") to whip up the fear among the British population. Maybe, the European Union should not feel offended with Brits as it isn’t easy for them now. The EU should feel offended with itself. Why doesn’t the EU, being a block, solve the problems? Why is Brussels talking so much and just making pretence of activity? Maybe, it is high time they reconsidered the Schengen Agreement on borders, ‘closed’ Europe for the new members who are evidently weak and introduce a total ban on the arrival to the continent of new migrants and stopped talking about a visa-free regime with Ukraine and Turkey? All this is absolutely obvious. To make the urgent decisions, they need a political but not a bureaucratic will. There is no need to look for guilty among the British, and much less is it necessary to use the "Mythical Russian Threat."
|