IMAGINE an international negotiations consultant coming down from the planet Mars.
He or she would wonder why on Earth all concerned are making such heavy weather of the Brexit talks.
If ever, our Martian would argue, there were a negotiation set up to succeed, it is Brexit.
After all, it is overwhelmingly in the interests of each side to bring the talks to a positive conclusion.
What is more, thanks to Britain’s 45 years of EU membership, the two sides have the advantage of starting their new relationship with virtually identical rules and regulations.
But what the Martian might not appreciate is that the Brexit talks are weighed down with baggage.
Behind the sound and fury of these talks lies decades of misunderstanding and mutual suspicion.
And there’s the rub.
As a young member of the Foreign Office, I remember my relief when in the 1975 referendum two thirds of voters chose to stay in the European Community, as the European Union was then called.
It was a terrible time in British life.
The country was an economic mess, racked by inflation and strikes.
Joining forces with Europe had offered us a way to reverse what seemed our unstoppable national decline.
Like most British diplomats, I embraced it enthusiastically.
In the 2016 referendum, I voted again to remain, but the passion was dead.
In the intervening four decades too much had happened to curb my enthusiasm.
In 1978 I was sent to Brussels to join the small army of British diplomats in our mission to the European Community.
This was only three years after that first referendum.
But already there was something wrong between us, the Brits, and the other eight member states.
I could not put my finger on it.
I mentioned this to an Italian friend, who worked in the European Commission.
I have never forgotten his reply: “They will never forgive you for being the only country which was not invaded, occupied or defeated in the Second World War.”
There were other things they did not forgive us for.
Bad blood between us and French from start
Mrs Thatcher banged the table and, through sheer bloody-mindedness, secured a rebate on our contribution to the EU budget.
We had a down-to-earth approach, which often clashed with the more flowery style of our European partners and trampled on their sensitivities.
They rhapsodised about Ever Closer Union.
We wanted the meetings to run punctually and reach practical conclusions.
As time went by — a foretaste of today’s bitter struggle between Remainers and Leavers — British diplomats in Brussels would split between true believers in Europe’s mantra of Ever Closer Union and the pragmatists who saw EU membership as a vehicle for advancing the national interest.
The irritation cut both ways.
There was bad blood between us and the French from the start.
We eventually joined the European Community in 1973.
We had tried to join in 1961 and 1967, but had been blocked by the French president, General Charles de Gaulle, who famously twice said “Non” to Britain’s entry bid.
We resented the assumption by France and Germany that they ran Europe, stitching up decisions between them in advance and seeking to impose them on everyone else.
When I was ambassador in Germany in 1997, I heard Chancellor Helmut Kohl give a speech to his party faithful, the Christian Democrats.
He was explaining to them why it was necessary to give up the national currency, the Deutsche mark, and replace it with the euro.
This was an unpopular policy, which, had it gone to a referendum, would probably have been rejected.
He told his audience that European integration and the euro were the price Germany had to pay, in his words, for dominating Europe without frightening its neighbours.
Kohl went on to say that the euro would be no less strong or stable than the Deutsche mark.
This was a pledge of special importance to the legion of small German savers.
It is a pledge which ever since has forced the member states of the eurozone to march to the beat of the German economy, with disastrous consequences for weaker economies including Greece and Italy.
Of course there are aspects of the Brexit negotiations which are complicated and take time to sort out.
But there is also a burden of history that weighs them down.
More and more I have come to the conclusion that de Gaulle was right.
most read in opinion
It was the General — not arch-Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg — who commented that Britain had “very marked and very original habits and traditions”.
It is those traditions which make us unfit for membership of the EU.
Sir Christopher Meyer is the former British Ambassador to Washington DC.
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https://textbacklinkexchanges.com/real-reasons-for-brexit-negotiations-going-awry-lie-in-a-misunderstanding-and-mutual-suspicion-between-the-uk-and-europe/
News Pictures Real reasons for Brexit negotiations going awry lie in a ‘misunderstanding and mutual suspicion’ between the UK and Europe
You don’t have to pack away your bikini just because you’re the wrong side of 20. These body-beautiful stars reveal their secrets to staying in shape and prove you can smoulder in a two-piece, whatever your age. Read on and be bikini inspired!
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Hayden Panettiere
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kim cattrall
Size: 10-12
Age: 52
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SATC star Kim swears by gym sessions with Russian kettle bells (traditional cast-iron weights) and the South Beach Diet to give her the body she wants. To avoid overeating, Kim has a radical diet trick – squirting lemon juice on her leftovers – so she won’t carry on picking.
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https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/NINTCHDBPICT000408213795-e1536446759341.jpg?strip=all&w=920
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