On 1 October, the European Commission was caustic in its response to the criticism levelled at it the day before by the British Foreign Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, who likened the EU to a “prison” and compared it to the Soviet Union.
On a visit to Latvia, Hunt welcomed the forthcoming liberty and independence of his country. “What happened to the confidence and ideals of the European dream? The European Union was set up to protect freedom. It was the Soviet Union that stopped people leaving”, he added.
“If you turn the EU club into a prison, the desire to get out of it won't diminish, it will grow, and we won't be the only prisoner that will want to escape”.
“We would all benefit, in particular foreign affairs ministers, from opening a history book from time to time”, retorted EU spokesperson Margaritis Schinas.
These comments came in a tense period with the EU since Salzburg. At the Tory party conference on Monday 1 October, Brexit minister Dominic Raab repeated his criticism of the EU, which he considers has not sufficiently explained its rejection of the Chequers plan.
In the meantime, a study by the Centre of European Reform (CER), a London-based think tank, said that the country's losses following the referendum of 23 June 2016 already stood at £26 billion in two years, or £500 million a week. The size of the British economy, it calculates, is around 2.5% smaller than if the 'remain' vote had won. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)