The UK’s establishment had pinned high hopes on a Brexit breakthrough at the EU’s Salzburg (non-Brexit specific) summit. But the rest of the EU had a different agenda, so disappointment was inevitable. Judging by the vastly different media interpretation between Continental and UK media outlets, the Salzburg snub is a matter of vantage point.
French and German comment centred around the detail of the proposed Northern Ireland border solution, not the Chequers plan altogether. Otherwise it was seen as presumptuous that the UK side felt duped that their plan to ask for broadly the same trade benefits without being a member was not warmly welcomed. There were no suggestions of intentional humiliation of the UK’s prime minister.
