RE: Merkel on Kent Variant23 Mar 2021 13:41
its a bit OT but, from the EU's POV, the UK has to be a "disaster economy" having left the EU, so that they can demonstrate how good it is to be part of the EU, and to some extent or other, as all the nations have some anti-EU factions/parties it is imperative for the survival of the EU that this happens.
The Vaccine from their perspective is the worst outcome possible: the UK (through luck judgement, who knows or cares) has been quicker to react simply because it was not part of the EU. That freedom to make rapid unilateral decisions has resulted in thousands of lives saved rather than lost.
From an EU citizens pov, what is the point of the EU if the very most basic, important reason for being in it, is to have better protection, they are slower to react than an individual nation state?
This is the EU's worst nightmare, an ex-member doing better than the others left still in. What then is the point if being in the club?
So yes, there will be a lot of anti-UK rhetoric about the vaccine, how we cheated to get it, how we stored it up, denied any export, how its basically all the UK's fault that the EU and its citizens have been denied life saving vaccines by the UK.
This could taint relations for years if all parties are not careful.