So Friedrich Merz, the leader of Germany’s centre-right opposition Christian Democrat party (CDU), is putting some of the blame for Brexit on Berlin and Brussels (“Berlin and Brussels partly to blame for Brexit, says would-be German leader”, Report, May 8).
This is easier to do now that secessionist talk has abated in Europe. But at the time of David Cameron’s deal with the EU (February 2016), Marine Le Pen, a candidate for the presidency of France, had yet to drop her call for Frexit (May 2017) and Italexit was still under serious discussion by some in Rome.
Not to mention the need to avoid setting an unwanted precedent for candidate countries. There was therefore little room for political manoeuvre at the time.
Andrew Fielding
Former Adviser to European Commission President José Manuel Barroso, Brussels, Belgium
