Posted on 11/30/2021 12:20:27 PM PST by SunkenCiv
France had previously said it could stop UK boats landing in its ports, but backed down and returned to the negotiating table after the UK Government threatened to start “rigorous” checks...
The ongoing row with the UK is being seen by many in Europe as an attempt by Mr Macron’s administration to garner domestic support and fend off political opponents in the run up to next April’s presidential election.
One senior EU diplomat said: “It is quite clear that France is trying to use this dispute for domestic political purposes.”
Another EU source told the Mail most governments within the economic bloc wanted to avoid being dragged into the spat.
However, French politicians have sought desperately to make the issue a Europe-wide one.
In a recently-leaked letter to European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, Mr Castex told the EU to use “levers at its disposal” to “make clear that compliance with the commitments entered into is non-negotiable and that leaving the Union is more damaging than remaining in it”.
The letter added: “The uncooperative attitude of the United Kingdom today risks not only causing great harm to fishermen, mainly French, but also for the [European] union, in that it sets a precedent for the future and challenges our credibility and our ability to assert our rights with regard to international commitments signed by the union.”
He urged Ms von der Leyen to consider “customs duties on certain fishery products” as punishment.
(Excerpt) Read more at express.co.uk ...
Well, after all, Britannia *does* rule the waves...
Nearly a self-pantsing.
Not my circus, not my monkeys.....................
only the french would look to belgium for help.
Not my circus, not my monkeys.....................
That wise rule, “Applies to most of the so called horrible things happening and not in our world.!”
Right?
Belgium is like Randy Newman. It’s got no reason to live. Give Flanders to Holland, Waloonia to France, and end this fiction that Belgium is a viable country.
Who gets custody of Hercule?
What it doesn’t say is they looked to the French speaking Belgians (Waloons) for help. Flemish (Dutch) speaking Belgians don’t talk to the French speakers. I know...I used to work with the Belgian Army.
It's a running joke on Poirot that he says emphatically, "I am NOT French".
Has Belgium a government yet?
Not sure, elections coming there? Last ones were in 2019.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_Belgium
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monarchy_of_Belgium
French elections are early 2022!
https://www.politico.eu/europe-poll-of-polls/france/
That’s why Macron’s been acting more of an a-hole than usual.
I have seen the claim that blacks and whites in the Deep South intermarry at a rate that is far higher than the do the Flemings and Walloons.
I definitely believe that! It was pretty amazing how people who speak different languages in the same country are basically living in 2 different worlds! The European races all hate each other...Belgium is basically a fake state as Nigel Farage correctly stated!
Flanders in general does not want to join the Netherlands. Remember that the Netherlands did absorb Flanders from 1815 to 1830.
Though they speak dialects of the same language, the two people are distinct enough that they want to stay apart.
A separate Flemish nation within the EU is very viable.
The European countries don’t “hate” each other any more than %Texans and Californians do.
Belgium was created in 1830 as the people didn’t want to be Dutch and many didn’t want to be French, while the great powers didn’t want them to be French
Fair, and I’ll admit I’m not coming at this with any great knowledge of local conditions. It’s a mostly tongue-in-cheek observation of things from a big picture geopolitics view. I will say I did find Pilsner’s comment quite interesting, and generally supportive of the idea, at least on the surface.
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