#and then to refuse to discuss alternatives and demand a 'my way or the highway' approach to care

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[daimonclub]

Thoughts and reflections on vacation

Thoughts and reflections on vacation Thoughts and reflections on vacation, some meditations on this summer popular topic by different and famous authors, writers and artists to enrich our holidays. Holidays are in no sense an alternative to the congestion and bustle of cities and work. Quite the contrary. People look to escape into an intensification of the conditions of ordinary life, into a deliberate aggravation of those conditions: further from nature, nearer to artifice, to abstraction, to total pollution, to well above average levels of stress, pressure, concentration and monotony - this is the ideal of popular entertainment. No one is interested in overcoming alienation; the point is to plunge into it to the point of ecstasy. That is what holidays are for. Jean Baudrillard Total physical and mental inertia are highly agreeable, much more so than we allow ourselves to imagine. A beach not only permits such inertia but enforces it, thus neatly eliminating all problems of guilt. It is now the only place in our overly active world that does. John Kenneth Galbraith More than just yearly rituals in which we connect with friends and family, vacations are also exercises in self-definition. In affording time away from the demands of everyday life, vacations disclose what people choose to do rather than are required to do. Cindy Sondik Aron Sometimes a vacation helps restore peace in families. But you have to find the right method. My brother did this: after a whole year spent sticking together with his wife, he said: «Carme’, this year I want to take a healthy vacation». «Genna’, and how do you take a healthy vacation?» «Say hello to us here, we’ll catch up on the way back!» Alessandro Siani Vacations are designed to refresh the outlook of everyone. No matter how tired they may be when they return to work, vacationers have been refreshed emotionally and intellectually. Their effectiveness in their job has probably improved, and they are, generally speaking, better employees for the time off. Robert J. Fischer

Reflections on vacation What distinguishes a true samurai from other characters is that the original fighter always walks with death at his side and always trains, with his mind above all, instead of going on vacation, even when it's a holiday. Carl William Brown argued and butted heads for a while, and finally decided that it would be better to take a vacation or get a divorce. We discussed it calmly, like mature people, and we decided to get a divorce because we could only spend so much. And besides, a vacation in Bermuda lasts two weeks, whereas a divorce lasts a lifetime. Woody Allen These young people lack neither character nor good aptitude nor diligence: but they have not been given time to give themselves direction, rather they have been accustomed, from childhood, to receive direction. When they were mature enough to be "sent into the desert", something else was done instead - they were used, they were alienated from themselves, they were educated to be used daily, they created for them a theory of duties out of all this - and now they cannot do without it and do not want anything else. The fact remains that these poor draft animals cannot be refused "holidays" - as this ideal of idleness of a century exhausted by too much work is called: in which it is permitted for once to abandon oneself to laziness and to become stupid and childish at one's pleasure. Friedrich Nietzsche Every year, at the beginning of summer, we read learned analyses of staggered holidays, "hit and run" vacations, reasonable departures (intelligent, it seems excessive). Then comes Ferragosto and everything is as usual: people, if they can, don't stay at home. We bite, yes, but only if they don't let us escape along crowded highways. It's not clear whether we are forced (closed offices, shops too), or instead we love the collective ritual and its barbaric aspects: crowds, queues, waiting, suffering and complaints. Beppe Severgnini I never went on vacation with my father, also because my father spent his vacations, about fifteen days in August, painting the apartment under the watchful, attentive and slightly annoying guidance of my mother. Those were the years of the economic boom in Italy, but in our house there was very little money going around. Later we could also go on vacation, and in fact on some occasions both my mother and I had taken vacations, but my father never, by now he had gotten used to it and didn't even miss it. Now I don't remember those August months of so many years ago very well, but one thing I know for sure, they were the best times of my life. Carl William Brown When it comes to the summer months most people start to think about where they will be going on vacation. This is the time of year when most individuals take time off of work because the kids are out of school. It is the perfect time for everyone to spend time together and to regroup from the stress that is often experienced with everyday life. Cindy Crawford The current Western concept of holidays is as ferocious as the very concept of work, not only because it interferes profoundly with the sense of freedom, but because it transforms and distorts its meaning. During the holidays, millions of people are forced to have fun, just as during the rest of the year they are forced to work tirelessly, to dream of finding a job or to recover from breakdowns and illnesses, caused by forced and daily work activity. Silvano Agosti I really love visiting cities of art on vacation. On vacation I go looking for asphalt like a pointer dog looks for a pheasant. What's better than Madrid in August? Maybe Ibiza in August, but you have to be normal. Instead of a pedal boat, the subway. Instead of a walk by the sea, the queue in front of the museum. Instead of a fresh coconut, a hot orangeade. Then I go home pretty gaunt, but with a brain like that. And double the two bullshit. Luciana Littizzetto

Different opinions on vacation Capitalist societies first reduce a lot of people to poverty and then they commission sociologists and statistics professors to do research on poverty and that's how we discover that the poor generally don't have much money, they are numerous, they are usually poorly educated, although not always, they generally come from poor areas of the territory and so on, they spend little, they go to the theater little, they don't go on vacation, they are vulgar, they wash little, and so on and so forth. Carl William Brown Luckily, every year, the holidays arrive, right on time. So we can get rid of those tired eyes of a hen struggling to lay an egg, that color of ice cream licked by a child, with all the flavors mixed together. And, with the holidays, comes the time to cast off. Unplug. Find peace. In the summer, all I want to do is sit on a deckchair and stay there. Still. I want the only thing that moves in me to be the dandruff. And if someone asks me: “What are you doing tonight?”, I already have the answer ready: “Nothing. At most I’ll peel the peppers”. Luciana Littizzetto On paper, vacations are always great. They're supposed to save your marriage, get you healthy, promote world peace, make your skin glow again... The truth is, if you do them right, they're worse than work. They're like a cruise with diarrhea. You spend a lot of money sleeping in airports, lugging suitcases that weigh twice as much as you do, eating food that's impossible to identify, and entrusting your safety to people you've never met before. Erma Bombeck Every “employee” has one. They are evil clouds that hide behind the mountains for up to 12 months, but when they realize that their man is about to go on vacation, they fall on his head, unloading a square of hail on the back of his neck in a meter by meter and accompany him relentlessly. Paolo Villaggio Using a camera appeases the anxiety which the work-driven feel about not working when they are on vacation and supposed to be having fun. They have something to do that is like a friendly imitation of work: they can take pictures. Susan Sontag I am an absolute libertarian, and I think that every restriction is a limit to the healthy economic progress of humanity, for this reason I would not only prohibit murderers from going to prison, buildings that among other things I would immediately abolish, together with all those sordid characters that animate the world of politics and justice, but I would also give them a nice prize. Maybe a prize vacation in China, why not? Carl William Brown Oh, why can't we break away from all this, just you and I, and lodge with my fleas in the hills? I mean, flee to my lodge in the hills. S.J. Perelman, Will B. Johnstone, and Arthur Sheekman If we would only give, just once, the same amount of reflection to what we want to get out of life that we give to the question of what to do with a two weeks' vacation, we would be startled at our false standards and the aimless procession of our busy days. Dorothy Canfield Fisher

Various ideas on vacation If you go on holiday by motorbike, things take on a completely different aspect. In a car you are always in a cockpit; you are used to it and you do not realize that everything you see from that window is nothing but an extra dose of TV. You are a passive observer and the landscape passes by you boringly inside a frame. On a motorbike the frame is no longer there. You have complete contact with everything. You are not a spectator, you are in the scene, and the feeling of presence is overwhelming. Robert Maynard Pirsig Some scholars argue that the energy needed for a fortnight's vacation is equivalent to that consumed in two months of work. On the other hand, what is spent in a fortnight's vacation corresponds to what is earned in two months of work. Eros Drusiani Seeing some of my acquaintances in the mountains during the Christmas holidays, memories of the good old days of university come to mind, when I had to work on holidays, always, while many of my classmates went to have fun, in the summer to the seaside, and in the winter to the snow! Carl William Brown Vacations have become somewhat of a status symbol and a measuring device of how well we're keeping up with the Joneses. This is another path that leads directly into the "Artificial Wealth Trap." While I am a strong advocate of taking time to travel and experience other locales, you must keep in mind that vacations are not long term investments. The strategy here is simple: Do not use your credit cards to finance your travles. You may be living it up in the lap of luxury and relaxation while on vacation but ask yourself how relaxed you will feel when the bills come in. J. J. Childers The death of some workers in a car accident seems almost like a dramatic liberation; that of some rich vacationers in a plane crash seems more pleasantly humorous; finally, the death of some devotees on a pilgrimage to Lourdes turns out to be tragically comic. Carl William Brown Vacations are seen as an antidote to work. They are medicine, a remedy for counteracting the effects of labor... Vacations allow us to be away from the job, to change the patterns of our day, to alter our routine, to reconfigure our actions and habits, to rediscover ourselves. Al Gini There are people who, once they have a job, identify with the company, spend themselves, do their utmost, are always available, study, observe, learn, invent new solutions. And there is another category of people who, while respecting the contract, only do the minimum required. They use all their holidays, all their maternity or sick leave, they stop working at the exact moment their working hours end and they don't dedicate a single thought to it. They don't get involved, they don't study, they don't innovate. Both, legally, do their duty. But, from the point of view of social life, there is an unbridgeable difference between them. Francesco Alberoni Every year, at the beginning of summer, we read learned analyses of staggered holidays, "hit and run" vacations, reasonable departures (intelligent, it seems excessive). Then comes Ferragosto and everything is as usual: people, if they can, don't stay at home. We bite, yes, but only if they don't let us escape along crowded highways. It's not clear whether we are forced (closed offices, shops too), or instead we love the collective ritual and its barbaric aspects: crowds, queues, waiting, suffering and complaints. Beppe Severgnini

Opinions and ideas on vacation In this vacation we should try to exercise only one human discipline: the sublime art of avoidance. Avoid people, avoid... There are only two things we do not avoid doing. Reading. Reading a lot. Which is ultimately the most comfortable way to travel. And then paying attention. To what happens to us and what has happened to us during the year. To understand. "In life it is not the signs that are missing. What is missing is the code." Pennac says so and I believe it". Luciana Litizzetto Vacations are your best chance in the year to get in some real living, to get out of the job-as-life box, off automatic pilot, and rediscover your passions, enthusiasms, friends, family, and the vitality of partaking in the world outside career brainlock. Social scientists have found that leisure experiences increase positive mood, act as a buffer against life's setbacks, and open the door to the best times of our lives. John De Graaf Going on vacation is also stressful. Do you know the lines we have to stand in at the airport? They never end, you stand there for hours and hours. A gentleman, finally arriving at the counter after a long time, was asked by the girl behind the counter: «So, where are you going to go?». «With difficulty, I've finished my vacation...» Alessandro Siani I do not really like vacations. I much prefer an occasional day off when I do not feel like working. When I am confronted with a whole week in which I have nothing to do but enjoy myself I do not know where to begin. To me, enjoyment comes fleetingly and unheralded; I cannot determinedly enjoy myself for a whole week at a time. Robertson Davies On the same topic you can also read: Quotes and ideas on vacation Mountain quotes and aphorisms Tourism and travels Thoughts about travelling www.officeholidays.com Job tourism in Lombardy Turismo enogastronomico Trip Advisor travels Top destinations and tours The Lake District The Scottish Highlands City guide around London Dickens literary London The London Marathon Christmas Markets in England Christmas markets in America Christmas markets in Italy and Germany Essays with quotes Quotes by authors Quotes by arguments Thoughts and reflections News and events Read the full article

[melvinfellerstuff]

Melvin Feller Discusses Being Right

Melvin Feller Discusses Being Right

Melvin Feller Business Group in Burkburnett Ministries and Dallas Texas and Lawton Oklahoma. Our mission is to call and equip a generation of Christian entrepreneurs to do business as ministry. We provide workshops and resources that help companies discover how to do business God’s way. When the heart of a business is service rather than self it can be transformed into a fruitful business ministry earning a profit and being of service to the community and their customers.  Melvin Feller is currently pursuing another graduate degree in business organizations.

 You are a human and so am I. There is no argument there. The sky is blue and the grass is green. There is no argument there either. After all, they are FACTS, and we are all in agreement with them. However, why do so many of us have a need to ‘right’ regarding OPINIONS? Another driver cutting him off outrages a man driving in LA. In his opinion, the driver who cut him off is unbearably rude. “I’ll show him,” he thinks, as he now tries to cut off the ‘rude’ driver. This incident explodes into a full-blown case of road rage, which leads to an accident and the death of the outraged driver. He might have been ‘right,’ but now he is dead right. Does it make any sense to fight to the death over an opinion? Besides, how could the dead driver be ‘right’ when his behavior was wrong?

 An obsessive need to be ‘right’ is irrational, but, sadly, very common. For instance, what makes one believe that our neighbors are incompetent to think for themselves and need to be ‘saved’ by our own brand of religion? In addition, if they refuse to recognize our merciful God, we can always kill them! It is like an anti-abortionist who preaches about the sanctity of life and then murders a doctor who performs abortions. Why do we kill one another for having different opinions?

Some of us get easily upset in the workplace. We insist that others do things the ‘right’ (our) way. Yet, isn’t it more important to do the right thing than do things right? The high divorce rate suggests that married life is another arena for the clash of opinion. Something as trivial as how one’s spouse

s squeezes the tube of toothpaste is enough to cause anger in some people. Quick, answer this question. What is the ‘right’ way to squeeze a tube of toothpaste? From the middle or from the end of the tube? Well, half of those who were surveyed in a university study answered, “From the middle,” and the other half said, “From the end of the tube.” Therefore, no matter which opinion you hold, you were not ‘right’ in the mind of half of those surveyed. Can you see how ludicrous, how irrational, it is to demand that others share our opinions?

 There are many reasons to give up our addiction to being ‘right.’ First, consider what we are doing when we make pronouncements that you are either for me or against me, or that it’s my way or the highway, or that I’m ‘right ’ and you’re ‘wrong.’ Aren’t we being arrogant, combative, self-righteous, presumptuous, judgmental, narrow-minded, and alienating? Aren’t such attitudes divisive and dysfunctional? Don’t they disrupt harmony and peace and lead to conflict and suffering?

 When I insist that I am ‘right,’ I slam the door of my mind. I remain locked in past beliefs. I stop growing. I have a shallow understanding of the world and limited choice. However, if I change my focus from what IS ‘RIGHT’ to what IS something magical happens. The moment I accept the fact that others have different views and willingly consider them, rather than fight them, I am transformed. Transformed from a prisoner to an adventurer and explorer. By opening myself to all ideas, I open my life to infinite possibilities. In addition, on that day, I discover what it is to be rich.

 To be dead right is to be dead. To be cut off from the limitless wealth of life. It is also to be unhappy. For it is impossible to control the thoughts and opinions in the minds of others. So, when they fail to live up to our demand for agreement, we feel frustrated and disappointed. Does it make any sense to follow the road to unhappiness?

 If the demand to be ‘right’ is self-defeating, why do we engage in it? One reason is the discomfort of uncertainty. Living in a world of uncertainty makes some feel like the earth is crumbling beneath their feet. There is no stability, nothing to hang on to (except their opinions and beliefs). Yet, when we change our perspective and think of uncertainty as surprise, wonder, awe, growth, opportunity, and delight, we can embrace it. Another reason for tenaciously clinging to our opinions is the fear that changing them would lead to the loss of our identity.

  However, we are not our opinions. We are people who hold opinions and can let them go if we choose to. When we learn from others, we do not lose our identity; we expand, enhance, and enrich it. A third reason for wanting to be ‘right’ is low self-esteem. Some need to show off their ‘superiority’ to compensate for their feelings of inferiority. They are afraid of appearing stupid and need the approval of others. Nevertheless, the way to grow superior is by opening one’s mind, not by closing it.

 To awaken from the delusion that our opinion is the only ‘right’ one, all one has to do is study history and the evolution of science. For when we do, we will quickly learn that we are fallible creatures. Even the brightest minds changed their opinions on innumerable occasions. In fact, that is how they grew so bright, by integrating opinions that at first appeared diametrically opposed. In addition, by willingly adding the opinions of others to their own. They were not afraid of accepting new ideas and making mistakes.

 Here is how Lewis Thomas (1913 ~ 1993) explains it in his book THE MEDUSA AND THE SNAIL, “Mistakes are at the very base of human thought, embedded there, feeding the structure like root nodules. If we were not provided with the knack for being wrong, we could never get anything useful done. We think our way along by choosing between right and wrong alternatives, and the wrong choices have to be made as often as the right ones. We get along in life this way.”

 When the populace of a certain village were evenly divided on the ‘right’ way to punish a disobedient child, they decided to seek council with the village elder. The representative for Opinion A gave his view to the elder. As the others listened in silence, the elder spoke, “You are right.”

 While maintaining his decorum, but visibly upset, the representative for Opinion B said, “But Wise One, you have given your counsel before hearing from me!” He then shared his opinion with the elder. After listening to it, the Wise One said, “You are right.”

 “But, Honorable One,” protested another villager, “you have just agreed with two opposing viewpoints!”

 The Wise One turned his way and said, “You are right.”

 We can never be right until we realize everyone is right. The truth is owned by none and shared by all. Whether you agree with this or not, “You are right.”

 That is the great thing about business.  We canal agree and if we do not we start a way to create something for people that require something different!

Melvin Feller Business Consultants and Burkburnett Ministries Group in Texas and Oklahoma. Melvin Feller founded Melvin Feller Business Consultants Group and Burkburnett Ministries in the 1970s to help individuals and organizations achieve their specific Victory. Victory as defined by the individual or organization are achieving strategic objectives, exceeding goals, getting results or desired outcomes. He has extensive experience assisting businesses achieve top and bottom line results. He has broad practical experience creating WINNERS in many organizations and industries. He has hands-on experience in executive leadership, operations, logistics, sales, program management, organizational development, training, and customer service. He has coached teams to achieve results in strategic planning, business development, organizational design, sales, and customer response and business process improvement. He has prepared and presented many workshops nationally and internationally.

[gyrlversion]

Eurostar chaos enters a THIRD day as customers face two hour delays

Chaos is set to hit Eurostar customers travelling from France today as the service is set to experience delays of up to two hours as French customs officials continue to strike.

As it enters its third day of delays, the company this morning said it would be experiencing delays on departures from Paris Gare du Nord today due to industrial action by French Customs, meaning that bag checks would be taking longer than usual.

Eurostar was urging customers this morning to still arrive at the ticket gates at their scheduled departure time and stated that arriving later could risk passengers missing their trains.

Already today the 7:31 train from London to Paris had been cancelled, with other planned cancellations throughout the day including the 17:01 service from London. 

Pictured: The chaos in Paris this week as travellers on cross-Channel services prepare for another day of delays 

Major delays hit travellers on Thursday as they tried to make their way between France and England on the Eurostar

Queues on the French side yesterday were photographed by delayed travellers at the station

Passengers waited in queues after French customs officers staged a ‘Brexit-style’ security operation in Paris

However Eurostar said that these delays had nothing to do with the customs problems in France and were scheduled time table changes which had been in place for a while.

This is while trains from Gard du Nord were running with significant delays from as early as 8:37am with that service running with a 23 minute delay.

The 9:03am service was also delayed. It was scheduled to arrive into London for 10:39 but its arrival was estimated for 11:28.

Both the 10:06am and the 11:04am service are also set to be delayed but no guidance has yet been issued to how much they will run behind. 

Pictured: lorries queuing on the A16, around 15 miles from Calais on Wednesday 

Passengers faced waits which were ten times longer than usual as customs officials subjected them to intense checking

In a statement to MailOnline Eurostar said: ‘We are expecting delays for travellers from Paris Gare du Nord today, because the French border authorities are working to rule. This industrial action means that security checks are taking longer than usual.’ 

As militant French trade unions continue a ‘Brexit-style’ checking system, travel chaos could continue into the weekend.  

Ferry firm DFDS announced on Twitter yesterday that they were experiencing delays of up to 60 minutes on its Dover to Dunkirk service.  

One frustrated driver in Calais yesterday shared a video online as he drove past parked trucks for more than four minutes in what is believed to be a 15-mile tailback. 

Delays continue at the Channel Tunnel (pictured, Dover) as trade unionists strike for better resources and pay in light of Brexit 

Calais (pictured yesterday) was also affected as trucks stacked up while customs officials employed what they claimed was a ‘work-to-rule’ protest 

As the protests enter their second day, lorries are jammed as traffic mounts in Calais (pictured, this morning) 

Christopher Mason, 45, who has been driving for 26 years yesterday said the queues are the worst he has ever seen in Calais.

He told MailOnline: ‘What you are seeing here is just the tip of the iceberg. Calais has two massive lorry compounds which will be full.

‘Nothing has changed, we are going through exactly the same checks and the same processes. I feel as though this is being done to cause chaos. They are just refusing to let trucks go through. As we are sitting in the queues out driving time is going up – which means the other day I had to stay – in the morning I was told it was my own problem and I had to wait for the other trucks to go through first. It’s madness.’ 

Ferry firm DFDS tweeted this at about 8.30 this morning but has been suffering delays of up to 60 minutes since 6am 

Delays are being caused by uniformed French customs officials at the Gare du Nord interrogating all passengers once their luggage had cleared X-ray machines. 

‘They’re asking us where we live, what our jobs are, and whether we have any money or drugs on us,’ said Iain Kelly, a businessman travelling to an early morning meeting.

‘This never normally happens, and it’s pretty intimidating. Once your luggage clears you are normally good to go.

‘The customs officials are being extremely aggressive, and causing massive delays. They’re treating everybody as it they’re a problem.’ 

Waits of up to two hours were reported on Wednesday, during the first day of the Gare du Nord protest.

Five French trade unions are behind the protests, and are demanding more staff and better pay to cope what they will argue will be more difficult checks after Brexit, which will technically happen at the end of this month.

David-Olivier Caron, of the CFDT union, said: ‘Customs officers are strictly applying the rules and reinforcing controls.’

And Philippe Bollengier, from the CGT union, added: ‘There will be stronger controls. Today you have a demonstration of what is going to happen’ after Brexit.

One of his uniformed colleagues dealing with passengers waiting for the 3.03pm service from Paris to London on Wednesday – which was delayed by almost two hours – was more forthright, saying: ‘Brexit will be terrible for all of us.

‘We simply do not have the manpower or resources to deal with the new demands on us.’

Despite this, the officer could not explain what would change, particularly as French customs currently deal with thousands of non-EU passport holders every day.

Instead he spent a minimum of three minutes interrogating every passenger whose luggage had already been cleared by passing through a detector.

While pedestrian passengers were caught in massive queues in London and Paris, truckers had to wait for hours at Dover and Calais

Trade unions regularly bring transport to a halt in France as they campaign for better pay and conditions.

As thousands waited for documents to be checked, Vincent Thomazo, of France’s UNSA trade union said: ‘We are making sure controls are very strict.’ 

The border guards carried out thorough checks on all paperwork in a work-to-rule action which slowed progress of passengers 

Eurostar rubbished the claims trade unionists are making, with a statement on its website reading: ‘We expect to maintain services on the existing basis, timetable and terms and conditions following Brexit.

‘We are working closely with our station partners, Governments and border authorities on both sides of the Channel to ensure that robust plans are in place for us to continue to operate in either a deal or ‘no-deal’ scenario.’

French customs said the work to rule was aimed at improving pay and staff numbers ahead of the UK’s departure from the European Union on March 29th. 

A French police car drives next to trucks parked on a highway in the direction of Calais, near Saint-Folquin yesterday

Passengers at the Paris station were asked where they lived, what they did for a living – far beyond their usual procedures

The RHA said it was ‘extremely worried’ the queues will put ‘the lives and livelihoods of truckers at risk’.

Chief executive Richard Burnett said: ‘Since Brexit discussions began, we have been voicing our concerns that the number of customs agents currently employed will be insufficient to tackle the new procedures.

‘The French union officials’ claim that the action is aimed at ‘showing what will happen after Brexit’ is totally unacceptable.

‘Many of our members caught up in the queues are bearing the brunt of this action.

‘They will be stuck with no facilities and will inevitably suffer financial losses as a result of delayed deliveries – particularly those carrying perishable goods.

Lorries were turned the roads around Calais into a car park as cars are being diverted round them to reach their ferries (red markings on the road show severe delays are widespread)

Lorry drivers will be fearful these scenes could repeat themselves as the French customs officials warn of a return to the 1970s

A French police vehicle monitors traffic as rain lashes down on the northern French coast on Wednesday

‘The head of French customs has insisted that France will be ready for Brexit on 29 March, and that such queues would not form.

‘But with only 17 working days left until the UK leaves the EU, I do not share his optimism.

‘This is an intolerable situation and if not resolved, there’s a real danger that it could be the shape of things to come.

‘We continue our call for clarity over border crossing procedures but still nothing is forthcoming.’  

Lorries bringing continental exports and deliveries to the United Kingdom experienced heavy traffic

Hundreds of lorries were caught up in the intense customs checks as officials made a point to their employers over their Brexit fears

Emmanuel Macron’s condemnation of the Brexit ‘trap’ in full:

Citizens of Europe,

If I am taking the liberty of addressing you directly, it is not only in the name of the history and values that unite us. It is because time is of the essence. In a few weeks’ time, the European elections will be decisive for the future of our continent.

Never, since the Second World War, has Europe been as essential. Yet never has Europe been in so much danger.

Brexit stands as the symbol of that. It symbolises the crisis of Europe, which has failed to respond to its peoples’ needs for protection from the major shocks of the modern world. It also symbolises the European trap. The trap is not being part of the European Union. The trap is in the lie and the irresponsibility that can destroy it. Who told the British people the truth about their post-Brexit future? Who spoke to them about losing access to the European market? Who mentioned the risks to peace in Ireland of restoring the former border? Nationalist retrenchment offers nothing; it is rejection without an alternative. And this trap threatens the whole of Europe: the anger mongers, backed by fake news, promise anything and everything.

We have to stand firm, proud and lucid, in the face of this manipulation and say first of all what Europe is. It is a historic success: the reconciliation of a devastated continent in an unprecedented project of peace, prosperity and freedom. We should never forget that. And this project continues to protect us today. What country can act on its own in the face of aggressive strategies by the major powers? Who can claim to be sovereign, on their own, in the face of the digital giants? How would we resist the crises of financial capitalism without the euro, which is a force for the entire European Union? Europe is also those thousands of projects daily that have changed the face of our regions: the school refurbished, the road built, and the long-awaited arrival of high-speed Internet access. This struggle is a daily commitment, because Europe, like peace, can never be taken for granted. I tirelessly pursue it in the name of France to take Europe forward and defend its model. We have shown that what we were told was unattainable, the creation of a European defence capability and the protection of social rights, was in fact possible.

Yet we need to do more and sooner, because there is the other trap: the trap of the status quo and resignation. Faced with the major crises in the world, citizens so often ask us, ‘Where is Europe? What is Europe doing?’ It has become a soulless market in their eyes. Yet Europe is not just a market. It is a project. A market is useful, but it should not detract from the need for borders that protect and values that unite. The nationalists are misguided when they claim to defend our identity by withdrawing from Europe, because it is the European civilisation that unites, frees and protects us. But those who would change nothing are also misguided, because they deny the fears felt by our peoples, the doubts that undermine our democracies. We are at a pivotal moment for our continent, a moment when together we need to politically and culturally reinvent the shape of our civilisation in a changing world. It is the moment for European renewal. Hence, resisting the temptation of isolation and divisions, I propose we build this renewal together around three ambitions: freedom, protection and progress.

Emmanuel Macron (pictured) has taken aim at Brexit in an open letter

The European model is based on the freedom of man and the diversity of opinions and creation. Our first freedom is democratic freedom: the freedom to choose our leaders as foreign powers seek to influence our vote at each election. I propose creating a European Agency for the Protection of Democracies, which will provide each Member State with European experts to protect their election process against cyber attacks and manipulation. In this same spirit of independence, we should also ban the funding of European political parties by foreign powers. We should have European rules banish all incitements to hate and violence from the Internet, since respect for the individual is the bedrock of our civilisation of dignity.

Founded on internal reconciliation, the European Union has forgotten to look at the realities of the world. Yet no community can create a sense of belonging if it does not have bounds that it protects. The boundary is freedom in security. We therefore need to rethink the Schengen area: all those who want to be part of it should comply with obligations of responsibility (stringent border controls) and solidarity (one asylum policy with the same acceptance and refusal rules). We will need a common border force and a European asylum office, strict control obligations and European solidarity to which each country will contribute under the authority of a European Council for Internal Security. On the issue of migration, I believe in a Europe that protects both its values and its borders.

The same standards should apply to defence. Substantial progress has been made in the last two years, but we need to set a clear course: a treaty on defence and security should define our fundamental obligations in association with NATO and our European allies: increased defence spending, a truly operational mutual defence clause, and the European Security Council with the United Kingdom on board to prepare our collective decisions.

Our borders also need to guarantee fair competition. What power in the world would accept continued trade with those who respect none of their rules? We cannot suffer in silence. We need to reform our competition policy and reshape our trade policy with penalties or a ban in Europe on businesses that compromise our strategic interests and fundamental values such as environmental standards, data protection and fair payment of taxes; and the adoption of European preference in strategic industries and our public procurement, as our American and Chinese competitors do.

Europe is not a second-rank power. Europe in its entirety is a vanguard: it has always defined the standards of progress. In this, it needs to drive forward a project of convergence rather than competition: Europe, where social security was created, needs to introduce a social shield for all workers, east to west and north to south, guaranteeing the same pay in the same workplace, and a minimum European wage appropriate to each country and discussed collectively every year.

Getting back on track with progress also concerns spearheading the ecological cause. Will we be able to look our children in the eye if we do not also clear our climate debt? The European Union needs to set its target – zero carbon by 2050 and pesticides halved by 2025 – and adapt its policies accordingly with such measures as a European Climate Bank to finance the ecological transition, a European food safety force to improve our food controls and, to counter the lobby threat, independent scientific assessment of substances hazardous to the environment and health. This imperative needs to guide all our action: from the Central Bank to the European Commission, from the European budget to the Investment Plan for Europe, all our institutions need to have the climate as their mandate.

Emmanuel Macron and Theresa May at a summit in Canada in June 2018 

Progress and freedom are about being able to live from your work: Europe needs to look ahead to create jobs. This is why it needs not only to regulate the digital giants by putting in place European supervision of the major platforms (prompt penalties for unfair competition, transparent algorithms, etc.), but also to finance innovation by giving the new European Innovation Council a budget on a par with the United States in order to spearhead new technological breakthroughs such as artificial intelligence.

A world-oriented Europe needs to look towards Africa, with which we should enter into a covenant for the future, taking the same road and ambitiously and non-defensively supporting African development with such measures as investment, academic partnerships and education for girls.

Freedom, protection and progress. We need to build European renewal on these pillars. We cannot let nationalists without solutions exploit the people’s anger. We cannot sleepwalk through a diminished Europe. We cannot become ensconced in business as usual and wishful thinking. European humanism demands action. And everywhere, the people are standing up to be part of that change. So by the end of the year, let’s set up, with the representatives of the European institutions and the Member States, a Conference for Europe in order to propose all the changes our political project needs, with an open mind, even to amending the treaties. This conference will need to engage with citizens’ panels and hear academics, business and labour representatives, and religious and spiritual leaders. It will define a roadmap for the European Union that translates these key priorities into concrete actions. There will be disagreement, but is it better to have a static Europe or a Europe that advances, sometimes at different paces, and that is open to all?

In this Europe, the peoples will really take back control of their future. In this Europe, the United Kingdom, I am sure, will find its true place.

Citizens of Europe, the Brexit impasse is a lesson for us all. We need to escape this trap and make the upcoming elections and our project meaningful. It is for you to decide whether Europe and the values of progress that it embodies are to be more than just a passing episode in history. This is the choice I propose: to chart together the road to European renewal.

Emmanuel Macron 

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