Jason Moore30/05/2017 00:00
TW
1

The British ambassador to Spain, Simon Manley, made an interesting and valid point when he addressed a breakfast meeting in Palma organised by the Bulletin; he said Britain is leaving the European Union not Europe. And of course he is right.

But yesterday I was rather struck by Theresa May who said that talks with the "Europeans" would start shortly after the general election. Now obviously she was talking Brexit but I got the impression from her body language that it was a question of them and us; the Europeans and the British. But Britain is in Europe, Mrs May. And then German chancellor Angela Merkel mentioned the Europeans and the United Kingdom and United States in her speech calling for unity in the European Union. I sincerely hope that Britain will continue to be a leading European nation after Brexit and will continue to work with European allies. Yes, Britain is abandoning the European Union but its outlook can still be European.

European security services need to work together. Europe is facing a major terror threat at the moment and intelligence services need to work together more than ever. Brexit may mean Britain’s departure from the European Union but it doesn’t mean the end of Britain's role in Europe. The last thing that we should be doing is trying to split Europe, with them and us attitudes. Europe needs to be united. United on many key issues from defence to the fight against terrorism.