'Island might be small but punches above its weight'
DON'T you just love it when staunch critics of ours as members of the European Union down the ages suddenly realise that we have got it right after all? When we are not being accused of the entire global financial crash, then we are considered as nothing more than a tiny backwater of little significance at all. This recent outburst against us came from the French Economy minister, by the name of Emmanuel Macron. Deputy Le Tocq, who is fluent in French, responded quickly by saying that it was refreshing to hear in that case that the French no longer feel threatened by us.
So what did he say that got me and the hackles of many islanders up in this ridiculous comment?
He said that if the UK left the EU then it would become a backwater just like Guernsey.
Well Guernsey might be a very small jurisdiction but it consistently punches above its weight.
Yes, we might not have the huge wealth generated by France, Germany and the UK either.
We don't have the unrest seen by those French workers who are in jobs, as President Hollande's super-socialist austerity programme bites ever deeper into French family budgets.
Food prices in France have quadrupled since they joined the EU and I bet a Guernsey tenner that the heads of the member states would like to go to bed every night with the small number of problems we have to deal with the following dawn.
I had no idea what would happen when we took a leap of faith and went for growth in the finance sector, nor can I accurately predict what will happen if the UK pulls out of the EU, but I do know that Guernsey will survive.
Perhaps he should have asked us first before making a complete fool of himself.
DEPUTY DAVE JONES
