If Brexit ends in tears, Theresa May is clearly not the only one that should be blamed and not be forgiven.

Sir, Martin Wolf writes that Theresa May needed to begin Brexit negotiations “from the interests of the country. She has failed to do so… If the result is no deal, Mrs May could not be forgiven. “May is set on taking a hideous gamble” March 22.

Yes, for an outsider like me, Theresa May seems indeed to have managed very badly Brexit negotiations. But just as Lubomir Zaoralek the minister of foreign affairs of the Czech Republic wrote July 2016 in FT “Europe’s institutions must share the blame for Brexit”, the EU Brexit negotiators, like Michel Barnier, cannot be said to have no blame in any failure. 

And also, again for an outsider like me, I have seen little to nothing of all those Remainers giving, “from the interests of the country”, any constructive advice or cooperation in order to reach a more satisfactory solution. As I see it, the Brexit-failure political profiteers, as well as those eager to enhance their reputation by being able to point out “I told you so”, have refused to cooperate or to give any constructive advice, and so all they should also share the blame of a failure… and “not be forgiven.”

As far as I know a Hard Remain option that could have alleviated some of the Brexiters’ main justified concerns was never developed.

PS. A question: If because of the insane 0% risk weighting of their sovereigns the Eurozone breaks up, and drags down EU with it, would Britain be better off having Brexited or having remained in EU? 

@PerKurowski

It behooves EU technocrats to find out what Europeans want and do not want to come out of Brexit.

Sir, Karin Kneissl, even by daring to explain some historical reasons for why Britain might not really belong in EU, makes a firm and clear call, to all the parties directly involved in the Brexit negotiations, to come back to their common senses. “A pragmatic approach to Brexit will pay off for both sides” August 10.

Hopefully it will give those many in Britain (including some in FT) who seem to want Brexit to fail, big, so that they can say their “We told you so”, some reason to recapacitate. Of course many of them, just like many Trump enemies in the US, are beyond the point where they would be able to do so.

If Karin Kneissl wants to help even more she should give Mr. Negotiator Barnier a call, and remind him that it behooves him, and all other EU technocrats, to find out what Europeans want and do not want to come out of Brexit. That this has not been done is sincerely amazing and only points to way too much besserwisser arrogance playing a role.

And Sir, if Brexit fails big, it is not certain at all that the loudest protesters would be British. Among Europeans, Britain counts with much more sympathy than what all commissioners, whose egos were hurt with Brexit, think it has. A French finding it harder to visit London is just as likely to be upset than a Brit finding it harder to visit Paris… perhaps even more “Mon Dieu, que dirait de Gaulle?”

@PerKurowski

For Britain’s and EU’s sake, Brexit negotiations should not be left exclusively in hands of Leavers and Brusselites.

Sir, most of the opinions on Brexit I have read in FT over the last year, seem to me have more to do with Remainers wanting it to turn out so bad so they can gorge on the “we told you so”, than with making the best out of something difficult.

In the same vein, on EU’s side, it seems to me that the Brusselites want to negotiate more in order to satisfy their by Brexit vote hurt egos, than with making the best out of something difficult.

Janan Ganesh writes in “The real saboteurs of Brexit are its own amateur leaders” November 14. So, if Leavers do not have what’s needed to negotiate Brexit well, as, that does not exculpate the Remainers from helping out in any which way they can… (or move out of Britain)

Gideon Rachman writes in namely: “Imposing a humiliating settlement on Britain might even seem economically advantageous. But the long term political and strategic consequences of a bitter Brexit are much harder to calculate.” “Britain is at the mercy of Brussels” November 14. And so, in a similar vein, the Brusselites need to be continuously reminded of that they could also be hold accountable for a bad Brexit.

If I were a British national and a Remainer, the first thing I would do is to launch a campaign messaging the following:

“Europeans since Britain will remain close to you… and since you could be next, it behooves you to keep an eye on your Brusselites so that Brexit goes well for all of us. The last thing we need in Europe at this moment is a neo-Versailles treaty.”

PS. As a Polish citizen, I would argue: “Brusselites, remember that many of us in EU have more in common with Britain than with some of our other Europeans”

@PerKurowski