It could turn out to be a messy “divorce” after all, if the upshot of last weekend’s special summit on Brexit is any indication. For all the occasional bickering within the European Union, its leaders have spelt out their somewhat rigid stand while negotiating guidelines for Brexit talks. Britain’s payments to the bloc before considering a new trade deal are likely to fester as the contentious issue in its dealings with Europe over the next two years. This is of far greater import than Theresa May’s dismissal of reports of a “frosty dinner” with EU President Donald Tusk as essentially “Brussels gossip”. Suffice it to register that while the British Prime Minister has had her way with the legislature on home turf, pre-eminently with another election next month, relations with Europe are a different kettle of fish. There was an almost incredible promptitude as leaders of 27 EU countries assembled at the high table in Brussels; it took them four minutes to formulate what they call a “firm and fair political mandate” for the negotiations. The time factor would appear to have bamboozled those helming the EU, with Mr Tusk dwelling on the “outstanding unity of a notoriously divided club. After four minutes we were ready”. It is hard not to wonder whether this seemingly simulated unity is directed against Britain. The formula has been devised close to a month before Britain goes to the polls on 8 June, indeed for the second time in two years. Unwittingly or otherwise, the EU leaders have conveyed the impression of having proceeded from conclusion to premise at the “special summit”.

When the formal negotiations between the EU and the UK begin in June, the British government will be told that it needs to resolve the key divorce issues of citizens’ rights, the estimated Euro 60bn divorce bill, and the Irish border before any talks on a future trade deal can begin. Ms May braces for a multiplicity of irritants and the negotiations with EU are bound to be tough not least because the “bases, the principles, the objectives are already fixed”, as the French President, François Hollande, described the Brussels summit. Rather unusual was his caveat ~ : “There will inevitably be a price and a cost for Britain, it’s the choice they made. We must not be punitive, but at the same time it’s clear that Europe knows how to defend its interests, and that Britain will have a less good position outside the EU than in the EU.” We do not know whether Mr Hollande’s parting message to Britain was an expression of subjective reflection; yet we do know that “Frexit”, so-called, is hugely improbable with the nationalist, Marine Le Pen, virtually fighting a losing battle for the presidential run-off next Sunday. Unlike Britain, France would rather the centreground.