Sympathy for the Devil

The Adam Smith Institute is encouraging us to have sympathy for Kickback Jacques.

The French president is facing several unpleasant facts. One of these is that the EU is no longer a projection of France, or a vehicle for enlarging French influence in the world.

That’s at least partly true, although we like it no more than when it was.

His problem is not that globalization threatens French farmers and manufacturers with cheaper goods from China and India, but that the new Eastern EU members threaten them from inside the EU. The barbarians are already inside the gates.

This suggests that the British Government’s consistent support from enlargement is starting to pay dividends. (Much as I hate to have to admit it). We should never forget either that the last time Britain was subsumed into a Greater Europe Empire, it was the barbarians in the east that led to the invaders leaving. Talk of a core of nations is no more than calling the legionaries back to defend Rome. The minute they abandon Pax Europa, they are signalling the beginning of the end. Long Live the Barbarians.