The European Union and the Soviet Union are not the same – Theresa May
6772 Mins Read
British Prime Minister Theresa May said Tuesday the European Union is not like the Soviet Union, after her foreign secretary sparked anger among EU leaders by likening the bloc to the USSR.
“As I sit around that table in the European Union there are countries there who used to be part of the Soviet Union, they are now democratic countries and I can tell you that the two organizations are not the same,” the prime minister told the BBC 1’s Breakfast program.
Jeremy Hunt in a combative speech at the Tory party conference on Sunday said European leaders risked turning the EU into a “prison” from which other countries would want to leave if it punished the U.K. with an uncompromising Brexit deal. He added in his eyes it had been “the Soviet Union that stopped people leaving.”
EU leaders — some of whom grew up behind the Iron Curtain — reacted with outrage on Monday, suggesting the foreign secretary open “a history book from time to time” and calling on him to apologize for his “insulting” comments.
Asked if he regretted making the comparison, Hunt on Tuesday told Bloomberg Television he thought European leaders “need to understand that we are very angry as well.”
“If the EU’s view is that every time we put constructive views on the table all they have to do is say no come back with something different that’s not a negotiation,” he said.
Speaking to CNBC on Tuesday, Hunt clarified that he did not think the EU was like the Soviet Union but added: “They’ve got to be very careful that the way they behave in these negotiations is consistent with European ideals, and I don’t think we’ve been seeing that.”
