An aggravating absence
Britain’s decision to leave the European Union will cause soul searching across the continent—and beyond
IT WAS a gathering unlike any the European family had ever seen. In the Justus Lipsius building in Brussels his fellow leaders commiserated with Britain’s prime minister, David Cameron (not pictured, above) over his failure to keep his country in the EU. Fractious as the marriage with Britain has sometimes been, there was resigned sorrow and regret at the decision to end it. Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, who chaired the gathering, described his feelings thus: “I felt as if someone very close to me left our home, and in the same second I felt also how dear and precious this home was to me.”
A few hours earlier, in the packed chamber of the European Parliament, the kids had been at each others’ throats. The Parliament likes to think of itself as the guardian of the European ideal. But its role as a sump for protest votes means it also provides a European stage and stipends for those who would destroy the union (including some, like Nigel Farage of the UK Independence Party, unable to secure a place in their own nations’ parliaments). Unsurprisingly, things can get heated.
This article appeared in the Briefing section of the print edition under the headline "An aggravating absence"
From the July 2nd 2016 edition
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