For
Eurocrats, nothing left to do but pray
Fear
and hoping in Brussels as Brexit vote approaches.
By MAÏA DE LA
BAUME , TARA PALMERI and RYAN HEATH 6/21/16, 5:30 AM CET
As Britain counts
down to a Brexit decision, Brussels is holding its breath.
Eurocrats in the
main EU institutions say they are riding a swirl of emotions ahead of
Thursday’s U.K. referendum — a vote whose outcome is far from
certain and one in which most of them cannot take part, but whose
fallout could have historic ramifications for what is known here as
the “European project.”
While many officials
would not agree to be quoted by name — standard marching orders for
EU civil servants, made even stricter on this most sensitive of
political issues — they reported feeling everything from anxiety
over the what the result could mean for Europe, to concern about the
ugly turn the debate seemed to have taken in recent weeks, to
occasional flashes of optimism that Britain would choose to stay in
the bloc.
But one emotion that
may be a common thread in Brussels is a feeling of helplessness —
the sense that there’s no way for Eurocrats to influence a fate
that is out of their hands.
“They’re very
nervous,” said one senior diplomat who described a general mood of
powerlessness at a meeting this month of European Commission and
Council aides planning for a Brexit. “They feel there’s nothing
they can do. They say they will just have to wait until Friday.”
Commission officials
have been under orders to remain silent on the question for months,
and EU political leaders have tried — not always successfully —
to temper their remarks to avoid being seen as butting into an
internal British debate.
“I’m not a
believer, but all you can do is pray at this point” — former EU
prime minister
But even if many
officials in Brussels say they have secretly prayed for the U.K to
remain in the bloc, others adopted a more blasé approach, saying the
EU would survive a Brexit and insisting that it would not be the
Brussels bubble version of the end of the world.
“The stakes for my
country are higher than at any time in my life so clearly everyone is
watching very closely,” said one senior Commission official, a
Briton. “But I really don’t know any seasoned officials who do
anxiety.”
The official added:
“Stiff upper lip, prayer, but not anguish.”
Other upper lips in
Brussels were not so stiff. Some said their feelings were more in
line with the dire assessment given last week by European Council
President Donald Tusk, who claimed to speak for the EU when he said
it was “very difficult for us to be optimistic” about the coming
vote.
One former EU prime
minister, who did not want to be named, struck a similar tone Friday,
telling POLITICO with a gesture towards the heavens, “I’m not a
believer, but all you can do is pray at this point.”
Sleepless night
Other officials
expressed frustration and even anger at the process and the politics
that had led to a crisis moment for the EU. Chris Kendall, a
political counselor for strategy and communications at the European
External Action Service, tweeted that he was “hugely f*cking pissed
off” at “the whole awful business and where it has brought us.”
Much of that outrage
transitioned late last week to sadness and grim determination after
the murder of British MP Jo Cox, who was killed as she was
campaigning for the U.K. to stay in the EU. Before winning a seat in
the British House of Commons, Cox had worked in Brussels for Oxfam
and as a European Parliament aide.
Cox’s death
“should open people’s eyes,” said Gianni Pittella, president of
the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats group in the
European Parliament. “It shows that there is an almost exaggerated
propaganda in favor of xenophobic nationalism.”
The news of her
killing sent shockwaves through Brussels as much as it did through
Britain, even if some officials and politicians said the tragedy may
have shifted the balance in the Brexit debate, which through last
week had seen a surge in support for the Leave side.
Said an EU diplomat,
“Until the shooting I expected Leave to win narrowly. This murder
probably changes the balance.”
John Billow, a
Swedish diplomat, compared Cox’s death to the murder of Swedish
foreign minister Anna Lindh, who was assassinated in 2003 in the
middle of a referendum campaign on whether the country would join the
euro single currency.
“Voters chose then
to stick with the status quo,” Billow said, even if they voted
against the wishes of Lindh by rejecting the euro.
“We all know it
will be a very close race” — David McAllister, German MEP
Over the last
several days, Commission staff members acknowledged that the tension
in their Brussels corridors was higher than usual. Some said they had
been working the last two weekends in order to prepare for possible
outcomes.
The mood was
similarly tense in the European Parliament.
“I feel
apprehensive,” said Richard Corbett, a British MEP in the
Socialists & Democrats group, who also expressed frustration
about the way the political discussion had played itself out in the
final days of the campaign. “The media has focused on internal
debates inside the Conservative party so it was difficult for other
parties to get their message across.”
German MEP David
McAllister, a half-Scottish, half-German member the center-right
European People’s Party, said he planned to travel to the U.K ahead
of the vote to be part of the historic moment.
“Everyone in
Brussels who is interested in the future of the European Union will
be not be sleeping from Thursday to Friday night,” McAllister said.
“We all know it will be a very close race and I believe it has a
lot to do with turnout, the higher the turnout the better for
remaining.”
There were some who
tried to pre-spin a possible Brexit as No Big Deal — insisting that
the EU would survive just fine without Britain. A U.K. departure,
they said, would allow the rest of the countries in the bloc to get
on with their lives.
“The European
Economic Community existed without the U.K so the EU could do it,
too,” said a senior European Parliament official, who offered a way
forward that struck all the right Eurocrat tones: “If need be, we
could re-establish a framework of bilateral relations, as we do with
many other partners.”
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