Ingram Pinn, 2018, ‘Taking Back Control’, Financial Times / FT.com. 27 July 2018. Used under licence from the Financial Times. All Rights Reserved.
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Dedication
To Oriana and Theodore, both born during this long negotiation, who kindly shared their grandfather with the British
Epigraph
Beat at this gate that let thy folly in,
And thy dear judgement out!
Shakespeare, King Lear
Quote
La Grande Illusion is a wonderful film by Jean Renoir, released in 1937. It is also the title of an essay by Norman Angell (The Great Illusion: A Study of the Relation of Military Power in Nations to their Economic and Social Advantage), published in 1910, in which the English author argued that, given the economic and financial bonds uniting the European nations with one another, war had become an impossibility. Although this prediction turned out to be wrong, in his book Angell clearly shows that war is a process of mutual depletion in which there is no winner.
Illustrations
1. The first lie of the Brexit campaign: in May 2016, Boris Johnson alleges that the £350 million per week relinquished by Brussels would be used to fund the NHS instead. © Darren Staples/Reuters
2. A hateful conflation from Nigel Farage in June 2016, which intentionally misattributes the cause of the flow of Middle Eastern refugees to freedom of movement within the EU. © Daniel Leal-Olivas/Stringer/Getty Images
3. Thyborøn, Denmark, 21 April 2017, a trip out to sea in minus 22 degrees Celsius, to listen to fishermen who work in British waters. © Henning Bagger/Denmark OUT/AFP/Getty Images
4. 12 May 2017, on the yellow line that divides Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, or the ‘invisible border’ between the EU and the UK. © Michel Barnier
5. With Brian Burgess, an Irish farmer, and his ‘European cows’, several metres from the Northern Irish border. © Michel Barnier
6. Patrick Blower, Telegraph, 19 June 2017. © Garland/Telegraph Media Group Limited 2021
7. My two deputies, Sabine Weyand and Stéphanie Riso, and I received David Davis, Tim Barrow and Olly Robbins on 17 July 2017 – they had left their papers behind! © Thierry Charlier/Reuters
8. At Berlaymont, seat of the European Commission, a convivial moment on my birthday with my whole team, 9 January 2018. © Michel Barnier
9. In May 2018, at the Derry/Londonderry Guildhall. A spontaneous discussion with Northern Irish school pupils. © Michel Barnier
10. For four years, we visited a new capital city each week in order to meet their nation’s government, the national parliament, trade unions or businesses. Here we are in Lisbon with Prime Minister Antonio Costa, 26 May 2018. © Michel Barnier
11. A frank and direct discussion with the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in his office in Parliament in Budapest, 4 June 2018. When it comes to Brexit, he always supported the EU. © Government of Hungary. Photographer: Balázs Szecsődi.
12. Ingram Pinn, Financial Times, 27 July 2018. © Financial Times
13. Christian Adams, Evening Standard, 4 March 2019. © Christian Adams/Evening Standard
14. Jean-Claude Juncker and I meet Theresa May in Strasbourg. Demanding negotiations don’t preclude courteous manners! © Alex Kraus/Bloomberg/Getty Images
15. Meeting of the Brexit Steering Group at the European Parliament, chaired by the Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt. European unity is founded on transparency and trust. © EU/Étienne Ansotte, 2019
16. Teatime! The role of Leo Varadkar, the Irish Taoiseach, was decisive throughout the negotiations. Photo taken 8 April 2019 in Dublin. © Charles McQuillan/Stringer/Getty Images
17. No one, not even Nigel Farage, ever convinced me of the added value of Brexit. Here we are in Strasbourg at the European Parliament, where we had many tussles during the plenary session. © EU/Étienne Ansotte, 2019
18. Andy Davey, Evening Standard, 16 September 2019. © Andy Davey/Evening Standard
19. 17 October 2019, in the early hours. After three years of effort, we had reached an agreement with Boris Johnson and his negotiator Stephen Barclay on the UK’s exit from the EU. © EU/Jacqueline Jacquemart, 2019
20. During this long journey, I felt the need to return to Savoie, my ‘homeland’ and the place where my roots lie. © Michel Barnier
21. 28 January 2020, with my two new deputies, Clara Martínez Alberola and Paulina Dejmek Hack. The task force takes up anew the reins of negotiation over our future relationship. © Michel Barnier
22. At the Élysée with Emmanuel Macron on 31 January 2020, the day of the UK’s exit from the EU. © Ludovic Marin/AFP/Getty Images
23. Patrick Blower, Telegraph, 3 March 2020. © Garland/Telegraph Media Group Limited
