by guest contributor Dimitrios Machairidis
Photo credit: UK Embassy in Athens, Greece
“Her Majesty The Queen is 90 this year. We are proud of our monarch and her long service to her people. Our party today is a celebration of her long life and long reign: an expression of our thanks and joy” was written on the invitation of the United Kingdom’s Ambassador to Athens, John Kittmer and his husband David Bates, to a reception on the occasion of the 90th Birthday of Her Majesty Queen Elisabeth, at the British Residence in Athens, on Wednesday 15th of June 2016. This was probably the last reception at the British Ambassador’s Residence in Greece with the United Kingdom as a member state of the European Union. A week later, on Thursday 23rd of June, Britons decided to leave the European Union by a referendum that was like an earthquake for Europe.
UK Ambassador to Athens John Kittmer
Her Majesty the Queen’s Birthday party at the garden of the British Ambassador’s Residence was fantastic. This year Great Britain celebrates 400 years from the death of William Shakespeare. From the 1st floor terrace overlooking the garden of the Ambassador’s Residence, Jeremy Irons, the Academy Awarded British actor, read the prologue of William Shakespeare’s play “Henry V.” At the lower garden, the Athanasiou Puppet Theatre Group performed “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” A collection of Shakespearean costumes from 1940 to 1990 productions by the National Theatre of Greece were on display at the Ballroom of the residence. Dimitri Vassilakis’ jazz band and the Renaissance Quartet entertained the guests. As Jeremy Irons cut the birthday cake, prepared by the pâtissier Stelios Parliaros, the tens of hundreds of guests toasted to Her Majesty The Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth and Defender of the Faith, Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor. In September 2015 Queen Elisabeth II became Britain’s longest serving monarch. In 1953 she assumed the throne at the age of 25. Since then she has overseen 12 prime ministers, 7 Archbishops of Canterbury and has given Royal Assent to more than 3.500 Acts of Parliament. She is the patron of over 600 charities and organizations, 400 of which since 1952.
Cutting Her Majesty The Queen‘s Birthday Cake, Stelios Parliaros the pâtissier, Jeremy Irons and John Kittmer
Britons love their royal family, adore royal ceremonies and protocols. For many of them the European Union idea is mostly considered as a threat to their British values and the glorious past of the British Empire. Their first attempt to join the European Union in 1967 was rejected by a firm “Non!” of the French President Charles de Gaulle. As a result of a very pro-European British Prime Minister, Edward Heath, and his friendship with the President of France Georges Pompidou, the United Kingdom became a member of the European Union in 1973. “I want my money back!” said Margaret Thatcher right after she became prime minister of the UK in 1979. It was the first attack from 10 Downing Street against Brussels. Since then British politicians and the media have never stopped referring to the European Union as a bureaucratic organization that is wasting the money of the British tax payers, yet the U.K. possesses one of the biggest bureaucracies in Europe. Inside the European People’s Party (EPP), the group of conservative parties in the European Parliament, Tory deputies have constantly been raising objections to the process of European integration. The United Kingdom insisted on several exceptions to the European acquis and policies, such as the free movement of citizens, the common currency, the common foreign and defense policy. France and Germany always chose the compromise rather than the rift in order to keep the U.K. satisfied inside the European Union, a choice that has not stopped Britons to gather every Eurosceptic around them.
The Athanasiou Puppet Theatre Group Photo credit: Dimitrios Machairidis
In fact, in the long corridors of the European Commission many wished the departure of the United Kingdom from the European Union. Consequently, in less than a day the Brexit shock waves were replaced by the decision of the European Union to immediately initiate the Brexit negotiations.
“This is our England! We got our country back!” many people celebrated today. However Brexit is becoming the United Kingdom’s nightmare. The country is more fragmented than ever. Scotland and Northern Ireland are against Brexit. Muslim UK citizens voted massively in favor of Brexit. The greater area of London, the biggest beneficiary of the 43 years of the U.K.’s presence in the European Union, expressed its support to remain inside the EU. The European Union flag will disappear from the British Ambassador’s Residence in Athens. The EU insignia will disappear from UK cars’ license plates and passports. British citizens will require a residence permit for the European Union member states. British products will lose their free access to a huge market outside the U.K. Jobs will leave the UK for the European continent. The value of the English pound is weakening. This year Her Majesty The Queen’s Birthday party at the British ambassador’s residence in Athens included twenty eight Greek and British sponsors. Probably the sponsors of next year’s party will decrease.
British Ambassador John Kittmer Photo credit: Dimitrios Machairidis
Who is the winner then of the referendum that lead to the Brexit? At the moment the winner seems to be the populist anti-immigrant parties that have mushroomed in Europe and in the U.K. as well. They attract “les nouveaux pauvres” (the newly poor citizens), those who are afraid that the health care system, the pensions and labor rights will vanish, and that immigrants will replace them in the job market and that globalization will cut wages and benefits. Marie Le Pen, the leader of the extreme right, which is France’s National Front, joyfully welcomed the Brexit as the rise of nation states inside the European continent. The Dutch far-right Freedom Party leader, Geert Wilders, wants a similar referendum in Holland about whether or not the country will remain inside the European Union.
A Europe without the United Kingdom is not going to feel lonely. On the contrary, the UK departure will energize European Union to find solutions to problems such as the common currency, the high unemployment, the bureaucracy that tortures all European programs, the non-legal immigrants’ flows, and certainly the rise of the right-wing extremism. But a European Union facing negative referendums and losing member states cannot sustain itself. Then every problem will be unresolved.
