At the heart of the squabbling between France and the UK is their differing ideas on which direction the EU should take
The European Union's failure to agree on a new seven-year budget earlier this month was ostensibly about money, with France defending farm subsidies to the death while the UK refused to give up the rebate Margaret Thatcher bullied out of her peers at the height of her power. In reality, the dispute is about two different visions of the European future. While it would be wrong to suggest this gap cannot be bridged, it does look like the project to strap together a bunch of disparate cultures, economies and ideologies is starting to stumble. It does not help that the personal relationship b...
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