One of the most celebrated anglophile members of the French intelligentsia Tuesday appealed to Britain to consider downgrading its membership in the EU. Maurice Druon who was knighted for his services to Anglo-French relations, said the country's aversion to European integration was incompatible with full membership of the Union, The Daily Telegraph newspaper reported. Instead he suggested that Britain opt for a "privileged partner" scheme resembling what some EU governments have in mind for Turkey."What Britain and Europe want of the EU is quite different. You want an open market, whereas the rest of us want Europe to evolve as a strong power, not just economically but diplomatically and strategically, too", the octogenarian former cultural minister said.
Druon, who is known to be a long-time friend of Britain, listed the close transatlantic relationship, the reluctance to join the single currency, and the strong support for Turkish accession to the EU as stances that made Britain unsuited for full membership of the Brussels-based club.
"Shouldn't we draw the consequences and ask whether it wouldn't be to everyone's advantage, Britain's included, for them to leave the EU's political institutions and take the status of privileged partner?" the aging intellectual asked, adding that it should be up to London to make the first move towards loosening its political affiliation with the continent.
He may be more correct than he knows. Britain has some deep-seated differences from continental Europe that are truly incompatible with the EU. One of the most important, their having a criminal and civil law system based on Common Law, rather than Napoleonic or Roman Law. This goes to the root of British and European philosophical assumptions about the law and government. As an example, imagine Chirac ruling over the British, with all of the powers given to him in the French constitution. The Brits would revolt within days.