"De Gaulle was right!" Brexit supporters mischievously quipped in 2016 as soon as French journalists asked them about their motivations for wanting to divorce the European Union. "De Gaulle was right," many British observers are now again writing in unison.
As Donald Trump courts Vladimir Putin, "de Gaulle's desire for a European 'third force' independent of Washington and Moscow is looking less grandiose and more prescient by the day," reads a Times editorial. "US vandalism gives Gaullists the last laugh," insisted journalist Edward Lucas in the same daily.
If Charles de Gaulle was hailed as a savior by anti-Europeans during the Brexit referendum, he is now quoted to challenge that very decision. The British seem to be almost forgetting that the General, while wary of the alliance with Washington, rejected the idea of a united European defense that is now on the agenda, including in the UK.
By imposing Europe's strategic autonomy, the Trump revolution undermines the British "splendid isolation," encouraging them to reconsider Brexit. Unthinkable a short while ago, the result of a YouGov poll, according to which 69% of Britons are in favor of a defense agreement with the EU, gives an idea of this upheaval. Fifty-nine percent of people polled are even in favor of their country's soldiers taking part in a pan-European army, according to a Public First-Stonehaven survey. This is as high or higher than the figure for France or Germany.
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