Brexit-era EU risks 'implosion', Dutch minister warns

Dutch Finance Minister Wopke Hoekstra warned Tuesday that the EU faces "the smouldering threat of implosion" as Britain and other key countries reject it.

"The bitter reality is that we have a Union in which part of the population, mainly in northwestern Europe, wants to leave," he said in a Berlin speech.

Hoekstra pointed out that Norway and Switzerland "aren't interested in joining" the bloc while Denmark and Sweden had rejected the euro common currency.

On Britain, he said that "now, in one of the most tragic chapters of the EU, the second most important economic power and single most important geopolitical power in Europe wants to leave the Union".

 

He warned those on the continent who look forward to "a future without the difficult British", saying that this view "shows a complete misunderstanding of who the winner is".

"This is not a victory for London, or for Berlin or Paris, let alone The Hague. This is a victory for Moscow and for Beijing."

He added that if the EU can't "inspire the best and brightest" and looks set to lose "a force for good like the United Kingdom, then our Union has a fundamental problem".

Delivering his German-language address at Humboldt University, Hoekstra urged greater EU efforts in common defence and security, climate policy and economic innovation in artificial intelligence, nanotechnology and biotech.

"Geopolitically speaking, too, our continent is unable to present a united front," he said.

Europe had failed to reach a common position on the Syrian war and proved unable to respond to "the divide-and-conquer strategy being used against Europe by others, be it Beijing or Moscow".

As the world's largest trade bloc, "Europe must be able to engage in power politics," Hoekstra said, warning that "we are witnessing the emergence of a new world order".

"The EU has a crucial role to play. But it's one we must actively seize," he said. "We can't just sit around arguing among ourselves while others make off with the prize.