Much of this is echo chamber noise, but it is true that Europe’s self-confidence has taken a knock. That was Brexit, sold on false pretences and acting like a tourniquet on EU-UK trade. The damage done by Brexit to UK growth, investment, employment and productivity is impossible to ignore, but it has damaged Europe, too. London was Europe’s New York. Britain championed its single market. Successive British commissioners were constructive voices for freer trade and less bureaucracy. The EU needs voices like that now. Even more, it needs to mount a life-or-death defence of liberal democratic values under siege from east and west.
