Final Word from Tuesday, January 22, 2019
Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron will take EU integration into their own wobbly hands today when they sign a French-German treaty on converging their economies and social models, fostering cultural diversity and bringing their societies and peoples closer together. The treaty says au revoir and leb wohl to a broader European core of fast-track countries and centers the accelerated integration efforts around just two capitals with a declared special relationship. This treaty is a godsend for Czech euroskeptic parties that were grasping for a new campaign topic now that migration has momentarily subsided as a pressing issue. Even the biggest Czech defenders of the EU will have trouble supporting a post-Brexit bloc that is dominated by rub-it-in-your-face Franco-German integration. In the short term, Czech parties that support closer Visegrad Four cooperation will benefit. In the mid-term, French-German integration will lead inevitably to greater EU disintegration. [ Czech Republic European Union farewell agreement elections ]
Glossary of difficult words
wobbly - weak and unsteady from illness, tiredness or anxiety;
to foster - to encourage the development of (something, esp. something desirable);
au revoir, leb wohl - farewell;
fast-track - on an accelerated time frame;
godsend - a very helpful or valuable event, person or article;
to grasp - to try in a desperate or awkward way to get (something);
to subside - to become less intense, violent or severe;
to rub something in someone's face - to remind someone of one's superiority;
inevitably - unavoidably; as is certain to happen.