Unfortunately Britain had easier to exploit fault lines 😉 We're still too hung up on Empire & self belief 🙄
10.03.2026 16:50
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Unfortunately Britain had easier to exploit fault lines 😉 We're still too hung up on Empire & self belief 🙄
Not to forget Cem Özdemir is also a very good politician.
What's interesting is that people don't see the differences between Green parties in different countries.
The UK press will throw every charge possible at the GP, but they're a serious party now.
The counter-example of Moldova successfully resisting Russian influence operations—and I suspect some US meddling as well—since 2019 is instructive too—Moscow poured money & propaganda into their last election but failed to stop pro-EU Sandu from winning again
vsquare.org/russia-propa...
Why is this a surprise? B-W is a bastion of the Greens, and the Greens there have a good relationship with industry. This looks like normal politics.
You mean AOCS surely?
I know, dear Richard. I am referring to @kresten2.bsky.social's phrase, "Both countries can probably survive (and more than that) on the outside." When one play this out, kne realize how unbeatable the EU has become.
Ireland, a small, anglophone country, is an easy place to target, at least for attention.
The flipside is it is a small country, with a very established democratic system and media freedom
In particular - and this will sound like a joke - but probably every1 knows some1 who knows Edwin Edogbo
2
Spain is a sovereign nation and made a decision (the correct one imo which showed balls!), and THIS shows the thick Brexiters that sovereignty ALWAYS existed.
It's about locking down a relationship with major economist and trading partners like CH and Norway
As an option EFTA/EEA were never going to be as good as being an MS.... But a far better option than being a total outsider or following the WTO NOW lunatics 🙄
There were so many different reasons people stated for wanting to leave the EU - but at the end of the day they all boiled down to ignorance
Interesting that Iceland has stated it's Arctic nature as a consideration..... and that 25%+ of economy is fishing (Can't recheck specific quote as not loading!) - If Iceland ask to join but ask for an opt out on fishing I look forward to the reactions of some of our regular correspondents 😉 If they
Imagine trying your damndest to find *more* absentee landlords given Ireland's history. #spéirgorm
Why an over-inflated UK opinion of itself in Brussels matters - because Ministers think a meeting or two is sufficient when actually there has to be a continuous public and private effort to seek even a small amount of influence.
There is not. It is unilateral from the UK.
However, this is in the context of preparation for SPS alignment, so it has to be done anyhow. As painful as this might be, it's necessary for the UK to do this.
@chrisgrey.bsky.social, as usual, brilliant and wide-ranging👇
Just one quick addendum. Some in the UK have taken the damage caused by Brexit to Europe as evidence that a special deal awaits (most recently Best for Britain)
Europe is moving.
We can't afford to wait for UKG to realise it's European
Switzerland still feels a quite unlkely member, as the constitutional system isn't really compatible.
Norway, why not?
The argument has always been for EFTA, UK and Turkey, say, to work together on the outside, but the EFTA states see that as potentially destablising and Brexit itself as toxic
For me, an application to EFTA should have been the UK's first "sovereign" task (that does not mean joining the single market, of course)
Good points. Faultlines, and expanding the cracks, would seem more important than size per se
This is a useful clarification. UKG needs to accept that the excellent possibities that are available in relations with Europe are enough, and just move quicker.
I am English in origin myself. I should clarify that this trait is found in a large amount of English people but not all English people. A colonial hangover that a significant amount of English people have difficulty overcoming. Jeremy Paxman wrote a few books on this.
How do you mean one sided only?
The vital thing is European unity, and that should not be risked.
Thing is, he's so bloody dangerous. This poison just washes around like an oil slick
Good points. Faultlines, and expanding the cracks, would seem more important than size per se
The US was influenced by Russia and it’s pretty large. Small countries are probably less interesting as targets but are they systemically less vulnerable? Influence is always exerted at existing domestic fault lines. A large country may have more of those.
Really disappointing language from Chris Bryant. Even politicians like him & Creasy, who are usually on the right side of the Pro-EU argument seem to slip in to confrontational tones rather than their usual position when a microphone is put in front of them 🙄
Makes me wonder whether comments &
In the end, it’s a philosophical matter.
A huge British majority think that winning implies that my partner loses.
A majority of EU citizens want our Union to be closer, in spite of all difficulties.
Ha!
Politico headline, picture of Donald Trump Trump threatens to cut off trade with Spain over air bases Spain is a member of the European Union, a 27-country bloc that operates a common trade policy, so any attempt to single out Madrid would create friction with other member states, like Germany, France and Italy. President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting. President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in the Oval Office at the White House, Tuesday, March 3, 2026, in Washington. | Mark Schiefelbein/AP
Europe has rightly been praised, and Trump rightly criticised, for the former's response to the latter's attempts to peel Spain off from the common trade policy.
Makes you wonder how exceptionalists in the UK feel it's okay to argue for Spain being pulled away from Europe's common visa waiver.