The European Union celebrates 60 years in Rome

BRITAIN arrived late to the party and will be the first to leave, but on March 25 it will be 60 years old and 27 guests will be in Rome to celebrate the European Union and as with any good party, guests will be likely to gossip about the spoil sport.

The Prime Minister wasn’t quite able to press the exit button on the Ides of March but other leaders are hoping that she will have the courtesy of not spoiling the party that she is not going to attend by triggering Article 50 on March 25.

The Treaty of Rome was signed by the leaders of six nations, Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands and West Germany and was the natural parent of the European Union which now has to decide how best to deal with the loss of the United Kingdom.

The meeting will certainly be buoyed up by the results from the Netherlands election where the ‘Party for Freedom’ which wants to see a withdrawal from the EU did not win sufficient seats to govern, so with that hurdle surmounted, the next will be the forthcoming French election and the negotiations with Britain.