BRITAIN LEAVING THE EU - AN OPPORTUNITY FOR BOTH TO GET THEIR HOUSES IN ORDER!

The EU should not just stand and wait for the next country to jump ship; it should implement the desired reforms.

For many people, both in and outside of the British isles, Britain is an outcast and, at least, a bit of a pariah.

There is a sense amongst many that Britain has betrayed the aura of 'greatness' which they believed it had, and had become fascinated with. Britain leaving the European Union and precipitating a sense of national and international chaos and instability, is not what they had come to expect of this considered preeminent of nations; a model of nationhood which many countries aspire toward.

And, there is now a danger of the international community 'lumping all of the British people together' and apply collective punishment to them. Ignoring the fact that the nation was divided nearly 50/50 per cent between those British people who wanted to leave the European Union, and those who wanted to stay.

Indeed the nearly 50 per cent of Britons who voted to remain, including the 3 our of 5 Scottish electorate, are just as, if not more disappointed and shocked by the Leave result of the referendum. Notwithstanding this painful situation, they are aware that it is something they have to live with, and an alternative which they have to work with to make it viable.

This is also the reality which the other nations and countries of Europe and beyond, have to face. Everybody just have to get used to this new reality and get on with the business of  rebuilding and fostering mutually beneficial relations - economic, political, social and legal - between one another; irrespective of their different orientations.

The leading politicians within the European Union will need to demonstrate more diplomacy and leadership than Junker, who has done more than his fair bit at irritating and alienating some of the British electorate, and who might have negatively influenced the 'leave vote.'  

The EU has a lot which is wrong with it; probably foremost amongst these might the poor leadership of some of the top EU politicians and bureaucrats; again, men such as Junker.  

If, as have repeated been reported, the EU bureaucrats and leading conservative politicians from the EU's member states, are thinking of 'punishing' the British people, then they should give further consideration to what it is they are trying to achieve by such punishment. Is it, for example, intended to 'deter' other EU member countries from 'rebelling', like the British, and, if so, do they really imagine that their punitive action will be efficacious?

Nations are not to be treated or bullied as if they are the equivalent of wayward or easily frightened children. The guiding principles for good and effective international relationships has to be mutual respect, openness and goals which are to the mutual benefit of the nations involved. These are principles which Junker and other EU bureaucrats and politicians are failing to demonstrate in the sensitive period leading up to Britain's EU referendum. 

If Junker and the EU establishment and the leading politicians in the 27 other countries fail to learn and apply this lesson, it might not be long before we will be having Spanexit; Polexit, Grexit, Danexit, et al.

It is time for the European Union to get to work to reform and renegotiate those aspects of the EU which which are too empire-like in their intent and practice, and grate too grievously on the national sovereignty and its constituent member nations. The EU needs to scale back its design on the complete political and legal incorporation of its member states. 

It is this which the EU needs to prioritise sorting out, and not the futile attempt to making it more difficult for other member nations to jump the EU ship, because they do not like the route it is taking or its ultimate destination. 

If this is done, then it is not inconceivable that the British people - including the 52 per cent of the electorate who voted to leave the EU - could, at some point in the future, decide that their shared interests can be served in a more democratic and non-authoritarian European Union, which does not seek to subordinate the national will of its member states, for the unaccountable will of the EU organisation.

If the EU fails to reform and reform urgently, then it should take responsibility for bringing about its own demise.