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After David Cameron's EU treaty veto: seven key questions Britain must face
Page last updated at 13:50 GMT, Saturday, December 10, 2011 - 18:50 EST
Britain's prime minister, David Cameron, faces the press before the EU summit in Brussels on 8 December at which he vetoed a new
Observer writers analyse the political and financial implications of the PM's refusal to fall in line with the rest of Europe
"Auf Wiedersehen, England!" was how German magazine Der Spiegel reacted in the early hours of Friday. "Der Euro ist wichtiger als die Briten," (the euro is more important than the British) concluded the German tabloid, Bild.
It was as much in sorrow as in anger that the Germans and French bid a weary farewell to the UK as part of the European mainstream and waved it over into the EU's slow lane.
Indeed, Le Monde devoted an editorial to all that it admired in its neighbour – from the BBC, to John le Carré, to Elizabethan poetry and Liverpool FC. But its conclusion was blunt: "As dawn broke on 9 December, Europe was right to say No to London."
Down the years, German and French leaders, from Kohl and Mitterrand to Schröder and Chirac had tried their best to accommodate the UK as a fellow traveller on the great European journey.
Greece-World News
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Merkel 'suggests Greek referendum on euro membership'
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Merkel 'suggests Greek referendum on euro membership'
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Greek party most extreme of Europe's far right
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Apocalypse Fairly Soon
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Greek party most extreme of Europe's far right
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Merkel urges Greece to resolve political instability
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Threats against the country will be faced effectively, caretaker FM said
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Credit conditions deteriorate in Greece
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The Greek run
Comments
NO to the Merkozi's vision of Europe!
December 11, 2011 by John Gurlides (United Kingdom ), 22 weeks 6 days ago
For once, David Cameron made the right choice. It's the rest of the European states that made an error in submitting to the self-perceived "leaders" of Europe - Germany and France - who want to end their sovereignty and subjugate them in a state they have conquered with nothing but empty promises.