Britain Should Quit EU, French Sage Says
by Colin Randall in Paris

France's most celebrated living intellectual - and probably its most constant Anglophile - called on Britain yesterday to leave the European Union.

Maurice Druon, an author, ex-culture minister and grandee of the Académie Française, said that Britain's aversion to full integration made it unsuited to the full membership for which he campaigned more than 30 years ago.

He suggested instead that it should settle for the status of "privileged partner", the much reduced level of affiliation that French opponents of Turkish EU membership believe should be offered to Ankara.

Mr Druon, 87, holder of an honorary knighthood for services to Anglo-French relations, said: "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."

His views were aired initially in an article in Le Figaro. Britain, he wrote, was beginning to "go back in history - and when they are there, they stay there".

Mr Druon listed the aspects of Britishness he judged incompatible with EU membership: an "umbilical" link with America; demands for special budgetary treatment; support for Turkish accession in defiance of Europe's natural boundaries; and stubborn resistance to the Euro.

Britain, he said, continued to focus its policies on "the open sea". This was a reference to Churchill's remark, often quoted out of context in France since it concerned wartime events before the Common Market was even thought of: "Each time we must choose between Europe and the open sea, we shall always choose the open sea."

Mr Druon said: "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? You cannot stay indefinitely both in and out. If a friend cannot raise this question, who else will dare to pose it?"

He told The Daily Telegraph: "I am not suggesting that Britain should be chased out of the EU. It must be Britain that takes the first step towards a modified status."

Mr Druon said recent events had reinforced his admiration for the British. From the Queen to ordinary subject, the "calm, dignified, disciplined" response to the July bombings had reminded him of his impressions of London in the Blitz.
The Daily Telegraph, 17th August 2005

Further Resources
Ten Minutes to Midnight by Phillip Day
The Real Face of the European Union, a 45-minute PAL documentary by the Campaign for Truth in Europe on the dangers of the Euro-state and the best way forward.