It's important not to mistake the occasionally sentimental rhetoric and nods to history from European leaders as a guide to their behaviour when faced with hardnosed strategic choices
The frequent description of Angela Merkel in British media as someone swayed by historical sentiment jars badly against any closer examination of her behaviour when defending the strategic interests of Europe and the CDU
Macron, Varadkar, Conte, Zingaretti, Salvini, Sanchez, Rutte, Borissov, Costa, Kaczynski, Mitsotakis, Iohannis, Michel, Kurz, von der Leyen....
These are not people whose rise to the top shows any signs of being held back by sentiment when defending their interests.
Brexiters are kidding themselves if they think EU leaders won't flick the switch if they think it's necessary to secure EU hegemony.
Remainers are kidding themselves if they think EU leaders are going to save the British from themselves.
The way in which a lot of UK commentary, especially by scholars, describes European politics in grand sweeping style laced with an oddly mawkish tone means that they often gloss over what bare-knuckle career politics can be in European societies
After all, Angela Merkel's rise to the top was punctuated by her ruthless takedown of Helmut Kohl in the midst of his party finance scandal as well as the terminated careers of at least a dozen competitors.
We keep coming back to the two main category errors of British Brexit debate where Brexiters think the EU is weak and Remainers think the EU is nice.
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