As others see us

There is an air of panic amongst many of the British staff members and assistants in the EU institutions at the moment, as they prepare themselves for what the press here have dubbed "Brexodus".

There is also a certain amount of hostility from staffers from other EU member states who realise that without UK money, there own lucrative 'jobs for life' may not be as secure as they had assumed.

One Hungarian friend recently (he was well into the 3rd hour of his lunchbreak, and was somewhat the worse for it) told me that they want us to go. They are fed up with us Brits spoiling everything.

The French are also less than happy with us. How many times we are expected to go to Europe to get the French out of trouble I don't know?

It's vital that we have this debate, and that it is settled once and for all by public referendum. I strongly suspect that the vote will be to leave the EU.

The Eurozone crisis, the migrant crisis, and the rise of populism almost certainly herald the end of the EU as we currently know it. It has proven itself to be fractured, inconsistent, lost, and downright inept in the face of challenge.

If one example throws light onto the level of incompetence in the EU, it is the formation of the External Action Service.

When work on the new lavish headquarters began, and staff were being recruited, it emerged that there was no budget line to cover it. It simply never occurred to them that it had to be paid for.