Tusk and Juncker facing Political Upheaval.
Secession is the new Brexit.
What do Lombardy, Venice, Sardinia, The Basques, South Tyrol and even Northern Cyprus have in common?
They all have secessionist movements agitating, to various degrees to leave their “mother countries”. Emmanuel Macron, the French President is angling for a more Federal EU with greater integration along various paths. He is a typical politician long on ideas but it will fall upon the more bureaucratic Jean Claude Juncker and Donald Tusk to hold together the EU in its current form.
Support for Spain, Italy and Cyprus would need to be delicately handled so as not to inflame regional and separatist passions. With an election due by May in Italy, that countries typically passionate political pedigree will be shown to the full.
From the summer’s relative tranquillity to potential political upheaval shows just how fragile trying to pull together twenty-eight autonomous states can be. There is a difference between Nationalism and national pride, a difference that Brussels will need to understand well if it is to succeed in its goal of a Federal European Superstate.
Brexit; The Original and Best (?)
As an example of how to divorce without too much upheaval analysts will need to look beyond Brexit. It is difficult to imagine a bigger mess, created by both sides. The EU and U.K. fell hey have right on their side and whilst not prepared to start too closely into the abyss (despite Boris Johnson’s continued interventions), As in most disagreements or political arguments, the truth tends to lie somewhere in the middle.
Yes, it would be nice for the U.K. to have access to the single market and of course the EU wants to govern its citizens living in the U.K. but neither of those are going to happen so move on. Unfortunately, politicians don’t have a “move on button” and will continue to argue despite the ticking of the clock getting louder by the day. The EU now appears to feel that the ball is in the U. K’s court and they are prepared to wait until they receive cogent proposals from the U.K. in response to the questions that seem to have been on the table since the talks started.