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European Council

Is the Prime Minister aware that, notwithstanding the many reasons that he advanced for the no vote particularly in France and in Holland, there is a growing political vacuum in every one of the 25 nation states in the European Union? That is exemplified here as well as anywhere else. For 30 years, there has been a tendency, both in the Common Market and the European Union, to race ahead of its people, and for most of that time, they have been able to get away with it. My view is now that there are no political certainties any more in this growing political vacuum. The halcyon days are over, and if the Prime Minister wants to have six months of a presidency that will be marked, it had better not any longer be one of any grand gestures that race ahead of the people. It must be in line with what can be sold. If the Prime Minister does that, he may be able to find a way forward to reduce the burden of the CAP and all the rest, and it will need a lot of luck to go with him.