Letters: UK residents in France defend Michel Barnier’s Brexit stance
He ‘expressed the same opinion as the majority of Brits,’ say Connexion readers
Reader says that since Brexit the UK has had to abandon the EU’s hard-won freedoms of capital, movement, persons and goods
Loredana Sangiuliano / Shutterstock
To the Editor,
I am driven to reply to the letter from Tony Hillyard claiming that Mr Barnier does not ‘get’ Brexit.
Firstly, Mr Barnier was and is a serious politician, having held major political posts in both the French and European Parliaments.
He tried tirelessly to thrash out an equitable deal with a very recalcitrant British delegation during the Brexit discussions.
Sometimes the latter even turned up to the meetings without any papers or preparation. In this he was thwarted by the hostility of the UK negotiators, who then proceeded to lie to the electorate up to and after the vote.
Secondly, the EEC (now EU) was set up in 1957 first and foremost as a peace process, and incidentally as an economic entity, so that the European nations could not go to war again.
The four freedoms (of capital, movement, persons and goods) were to enable the EU to thrive in a coordinated way.
These freedoms all had to be abandoned once the UK had left the EU, as anyone who knew anything about Europe had forecast, only to be labelled ‘Project Fear’.
So now it has to re-negotiate each and every access to trade, travel, banking, education etc. The list is endless.
Thirdly, while the UK did contribute a major portion to the budget, some three-quarters of this returned in funds to the poorer parts of the country and to farmers, businesses and infrastructure projects.
Also we had opt-outs which no other member countries had. We are now some £140 billion poorer since Brexit, according to the latest statistics.
And finally, it is a much more, not less, democratic entity now than it was at its inauguration because the Parliament - which has much more power now - has been directly elected by voters since 1979.
I could go on.
Only a few percentage points separated the Remain and Leave vote - well within the margin of error - so one cannot say “Britain wanted to come out of the EU”. Only half of it did.
Kind regards,
Veronica Stiastny, St Romain-en-Viennois (Vaucluse)
Read more: Hopes rise for simpler French visas and residency after new decree
To the Editor,
Mr Barnier was one of the superb EU Brexit negotiating team who ran rings around their UK counterparts, this partly explains why the Brexit deal was so disastrous for the UK.
As a result of Brexit the UK is poorer and even more marginalised. It has cost the Connexion readership literally tens of thousands thanks to the weaker pound and would be reversed in an instant should the UK be granted another referendum.
Damian Mellor, Ginoles (Aude)
To the Editor,
I feel that Michel Barnier has expressed the same opinion as the majority of Brits (both UK residents or those living in mainland Europe).
Brexit would not have happened if the government at the time had not told blatant lies, reported false news and generally turned half the UK population into a flock of bleating lambs flocking to their own execution.
May he live to see the excesses reduced, by a new era of common sense, commercial intelligence and above all, an understanding between nations who need each other in this increasingly unstable world.
Vive l'Europe!!
Sue Trivett, Le Fleix (Dordogne)
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