Morning becomes electric

Waking up to the latest news emanating from the European Union can be an electrifying experience these days.

France particularly seems to be going through the mill at the moment. Maybe it has something to do with its revolutionary tradition - although one can't help thinking that the preponderance of paving stones (cobbles or setts) in their streets and squares might have more than a little to do with encouraging it. This was the reason the Albanian authorities, also experiencing civil unrest, have taken up the paving from the main boulevard in Tirana outside the Prime Minister's office to prevent them being used as projectiles.

French protesters have gone beyond chucking stones, though, and are setting fire to vehicles and public buildings. Images of the flaming clock tower of Limoges town hall crashing through the roof revived uncomfortable memories of the collapse of Notre Dame's spire in the catastrophic fire of 2019. The cause of that traumatic conflagration was accidental but the fires now afflicting France's public realm are the acts of angry arsonist mobs. 

It is difficult to discern at present how much this is truly a result of political disenchantment and how much a case of opportunistic vandalism and thuggery. A French commentator has described it as nihilism andI suspect it is a mixture of all three. Though the French population seems to be more highly-politicised and radicalised than the British we certainly saw, in the UK riots of 2011, how righteous anger sparked by the death of a young black man in a police shooting in Tottenham quickly degenerated into a loot-fest. Those British riots were never likely to destabilise the state but these French ones, especially in the run-up to critical presidential elections next April, could prove decisive. 

Fifteen years ago I was living near Tottenham and will never forget the sense of foreboding at seeing plumes of smoke rising into the summer sky across the Lea Valley. Coincidentally, I was then just about to take the Eurostar to Paris and travel on to Rennes. Arriving into Paris Gare du Nord after the turmoil of London was like reaching an oasis of calm - not a condition normally characterising that particular rail terminus. The French I spoke to on my stay were agog at the scenes they were witnessing on their TV screens of mayhem on the streets of Britain. Now the tables are turned.

Against this background, the forthcoming UK-EU 'reset' summit is bound to take on a very different tone. Andy Burnham will arrive in a Europe beset with civil and political upheaval, no longer the safe haven after the UK's Brexit travails it might only recently have appeared to be. The post-Brexit political landscape of the EU, which seemed enticingly stable, prosperous and dynamic, suddenly seems much less appealing. 

There has been a marked lurch rightwards, with recent electoral gains by the far-right AfD in Germany and Marine Le Pen, leader of the far-right Rassemblement National (National Rally) party, intending to contest the French presidential election in the wake of the recent unrest. If Pedro Sánchez fails in his bid to consolidate his left-wing powerbase in Spain after calling a risky snap general election the left could find itself in full retreat actoss the EU. The result of this could be the strengthening of Eurosceptic sentiment leading to an existential crisis for the survival of the institution.

This might not be the best moment to pursue rejoining the club.

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