Really very sad with France!

[Friendsoftheearth]

I am quietly furious with France. We have been going to France between three and four times a year, every year for pretty much all of my adult life. We have spent most summer holidays, skiing and all the rest, choosing France as our destination over all over countries.

Every week I buy French cheeses, wine and truffle oils, and we are very big fans of France and French cuisine.

Even taking into account that Macron should hope and push for the best deal for their fishing industry, I still find it incredulous and insulting that they should be demanding ten years of fish, and are offering us a paltry percentage. Ten years.
They are in a total stand off regarding an even playing field, I understand the reasons for this, but honestly they are pushing all of us to a no deal outcome, that will see French fisherman with no catch whatsoever, and high tariffs slapped on all imports from France. Tourism will be destroyed as people will no longer wish to go there. It could poison relations for decades.

I am aware of the history between the UK and France, but rather naively thought we had moved on from that a very long time ago, I am in despair at the eleventh hour demands, and feel this is in very bad faith. It has really highlighted to me how little respect France have for us as a country.

I feel like I never want to go again, despite having a tentative booking for a holiday in the spring of next year.

tanith You can sneer about my food choices, but I am not the only one reassessing where I shop and travel to after this let me assure you.

You forgot to call him a petit Napoleon OP.

Could’ve gone for a full house on your Brexshit Bingo card there.

Politician makes political motivated decision. Quelle surprise.

The EU should have had realistic exit strategies for members

I think this would have been wise. In hindsight.

@TicTacTwo

People on here do not like to admit that we have more in common with Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and the US

You mean the English language and Commonwealth (not the US)?

Trade with the EU will always be desirable because geography means we can have our food delivered quicker and cheaper than trade with those other countries.

And yet most cheap supermarket food comes from a lot further away!

@Tanith

Oh, give over, Op! You're a pro-Brexit poster and this thread is just to spread disinformation against the French. It's as obvious as it's inaccurate - right down to the weekly truffle oil order!

This^

If you voted Brexit you voted for this shitshow.

You won. Get over it.

I’ve never understood the I’m sad to be British stance, if you don’t like being British seek out a nationality you’d be proud of instead of bashing the voter majority and declaring everyone who disagrees with you a bigot out to destroy the UK.

As soon as MN posters start to accuse posters of being shills or trolls you just know the argument is lost.

Brexit will probably end up being a massive success for us. That's based on experience of Mumsnet, where the prevailing hive mind usually gets things spectacularly wrong.

A francophile here and I don't blame Macron at all.
I am blaming everyone who voted for Brexit and all the politicians who enabled us to get us into this mess, starting with David Cameron.

I'm slightly more accepting of the situation than I used to be but I'm still fucking furious.

So the EU are now negotiating simply to please one member out of many and that's fine, but when we negotiate for ourselves that's beyond wrong? The desperation to slag off everything to do with Brexit is overwhelming on here and there really isn't much in the way of evidence just mudslinging against those who dared not to agree with the echo chamber.

You can sneer about my food choices, but I am not the only one reassessing where I shop and travel to after this let me assure you.

Indeed not, OP. With the shitshow of the Brexit recession that's coming, I think many of us are going to have to reassess our spending habits.

Interesting...
OP, you are feeling insulted in the same way EU citizens felt personally rejected by the Brexit vote.
I am a French-British dual national. My heart sank in 2016 because I knew it would come to this...
Don't be fooled by the rhetoric: the government needs a scape goat and French bashing has always been all too easy. Macron is playing bad cop but don't be naive: Germany, The Netherlands and Spain are behind him. The EU will never compromise the single market and the level playing field rules are really the sticking point here.
Fine if you want to boycott France- but you'd be playing the game populists in this country want to you to play. Instead, let's focus on holding the brexiters to account.

Going to be some seriously upset Brexiters around soon, after Bozo caves into the EU later this week.

[quote wizzbangfizz]@dreamingbohemian really? I'm was in remain but am deeply sceptical about the EU for many reasons. But anti EU sentiment is heavily on the rise - Italy in particular. [/quote]
Oh definitely, but anti-EU sentiment is not the same thing as wanting to leave the EU. Plenty of people will be unhappy with the EU, especially in polls, but if you ask them if they want to actually go through the process of leaving and all the uncertainty that entails, many of them would say no.

I absolutely don't deny a lot of people in Europe are not fond of the EU, what I disagree with is this Brexiter claim that loads of countries are itching to actually leave.

Marine Le Pen is a good example. Her party was for Frexit for a long time but more recently (no doubt seeing how Brexit is going) she has switched to saying France should stay in and reform the EU. This is where a lot of right and left wing parties are pivoting to.

I am new here. Is this what they call a parody thread?
Can anyone really write and, more importantly, think this in earnest?

@Friendsoftheearth

The three sticking points have been there since the summer, we all know that - but last Wednesday it did seem that we were almost there with the deal, no one seems to be acknowledging just how close we were to an agreement on this thread - that is until Macron decided it was going too well, and stuck the boot in.

The worry is not so much the UK leaving on WTO, as I guess we will just get used to that in time, but the other EU countries and industries that will be massively impacted by Macron's stubborn position could jeopardise the whole of the EU and its unity. The Spanish exporter of ham, the Italian wine industry and all the rest, they will all suffer just because Macron overextended his hand. The consequences will continue for decades.

For those saying this was all part and parcel of the UK's plot to leave on a no deal, and that they always wanted to, I just don't believe that at all. It would be far better for the UK and EU to agree broadly a departure on friendly terms.
There will be years of poisonous relations with France if it uses its veto, that would not be good for anyone at all, especially those in France. Who wants to holiday on the backdrop of that kind of hatred and division? I certainly don't, and good luck to you if you still want to go.The division and resentment within the EU itself will be very damaging to the EU and perhaps long lasting.

Of course I am happy to book elsewhere for a holiday, and eat wonderful English cheese, but I rather hoped we would remain on civil terms with the French and the rest of the EU, and for decency to prevail. My concern is not just for the UK, but for the whole of EU now.

How melodramatic!

As a British passport holder living in the EU I have been embarrassed on an almost daily basis by the sabre rattling and xenophobic insults of the British govt, with their misplaced sense of exceptionalism, and now that someone has finally stopped being polite and patient you bang on about foreigners creating poisonous relations? What about the poisonous relations created by the U.K. govt over the last 4 years?

I’m getting a bit fed up with these astroturfer threads, the OP is either very undereducated but thinks the French should be grateful she buys the odd bit of cheese (hardly propping up their economy) or else is someone deliberately posting to whip up anti EU feeling before the shit hits the fan from a no deal. I’ve even seen a post blaming “remainders” for a no deal. WTF? Not taking responsibility for your own shit and shifting blame on others is often cited as a red flag for an abusive mindset, what does it say about our Government?

Oh, and as for Italian wine producers, as well as a lot of other EU exporters, they’ve had 4 years to develop alternative markets, which they have used wisely in most cases. Ditto the companies using components supplied by British firms, many have found alternative suppliers elsewhere in the EU.

Its a sad situation, we have a house in France that we were hoping to retire to in a number of years, my daughter wants to go to university there. Its all blown plans out of the water :( I will be going back asap though!

The EU should have had realistic exit strategies for members

They have, the problem is the UK couldn't decide if it wanted a realistic exit or a full on Land of Hope and Glory exity exit.

I don't think for a minute Boris Johnson will cave, his survival and legacy depends on it.

but thinks the French should be grateful she buys the odd bit of cheese (hardly propping up their economy) just wait for the reaction of France if we stopped importing it and ate more English cheese!

@tinageta

I am new here. Is this what they call a parody thread? Can anyone really write and, more importantly, think this in earnest?

You’d like to think so, @tinageta.

So the EU are now negotiating simply to please one member out of many and that's fine, but when we negotiate for ourselves that's beyond wrong?

No, there is nothing wrong with Britain negotiating for its own interests. We have to, in fact, as nobody else is going to negotiate on our behalf. We just need to be realistic in accepting that our negotiating position is quite weak, as we have opted not to be part of a large trading bloc. We also need to understand that other countries are not being mean or vindictive when they prioritise their own interests over ours - a lot of people seem to have trouble grasping this.

@Friendsoftheearth

I don't think for a minute Boris Johnson will cave, his survival and legacy depends on it.

www.thedailymash.co.uk/politics/politics-headlines/ill-cut-off-my-own-dick-dont-think-i-wont-johnson-threatens-eu-20201207203295

His legacy? What legacy? A 10% drop in GDP (at best) and wholesale dumping of workers and consumers rights? Because really, why else fight for an antiquated view of what sovereignty means?
Forget the squabbling with the EU for a bit and look at the state this country is in and where he's taking it for goodness sake!

wholesale dumping of workers and consumers rights?

There are no "dumping of workers rights" on the table.