Let’s hope the varying fortunes of European teams in the World Cup is not a metaphor for the slow bicycle race going on in Brussels.
The Germans were unceremoniously dumped out of the competition at the group stage by unfancied South Korea, while England look like topping the group, and their commentators are already talking up the team’s prospects of making the final four.
Predictably the headlines this morning in the British papers don’t spare the welly. ‘Gott in Himmel’. ‘Don’t Mention the Score’. ‘What’s the German for Schadenfreude?’.
There will be slightly less goalmouth action in Brussels today, but the contrasting fortunes of the power bases in Europe are apparent.
Restoring border checks ‘like trying to put apartheid back into South Africa’
EU workers employed in NI drops by one quarter since Brexit vote
Bank of England warns EU Commission standing in way of financial stability
Cliff Taylor: Don’t blame business for warning about the costs of trade wars and Brexit
The once invincible Angela Merkel looks more vulnerable domestically than she has done at any point of her leadership. And the British campaign of parking the bus in front of the goals has frustrated all other countries and cast doubt over everything being agreed by October.
But, whisper it, is there a method to the madness? Is the strategy, or non-strategy, having more of an impact than any of us would care to admit.
Of course, for Ireland's parties, Brexit is its political World Cup. The problem is, for most others, it's not.
The issue will be way down the scale at the summit of EU leaders in Brussels today and tomorrow. It will be mentioned at dinner tonight - a purgative between courses.
But the big ticket items are others: mass migration, the future of the euro zone, the EU budget and trade relations with the United States.
Where we are is more or less where we were in May and in March and in January and in December.
EU leaders will express disappointment at the lack of progress and what the Government describes as a “strong message” to the United Kingdom that negotiations will need to intensify for a withdrawal agreement to be concluded satisfactorily by the October European Council.
As he departed this morning, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said we need to see detailed proposals from Britain on its commitments on the Border and the common travel area.
Irish political leaders are no longer speaking in unison, however, and Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are getting increasingly impatient with the Government.
Yesterday Micheál Martin pointed out all the big hitters in the Coalition had set June as a kind of deadline for the British to come up with a solution.
Instead of a backstop what we have seen has been backsliding - from the British on its commitments and from the Government over all the deadlines it has imposed.
Confidence in short supply
As the sun soars outside, the mercury has also been rising over political exchanges between the parties.
What irked Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin yesterday was that Leo Varadkar had the temerity to call on Fianna Fáil to begin negotiating an extension to the confidence and supply agreement without first contacting him.
Sarah Bardon quotes comments from Martin last night: “Leo should talk to the leader of Fianna Fáil,” he said. “If he wants to change the agreement unilaterally or if he wants to do it in some other form surely he should as a basic courtesy seek a meeting with the leader of Fianna Fáil and discuss it.”
Mr Martin added that if Fine Gael “think they are going to get a blank cheque before the budget they can think again. That’s not going to happen”.
Despite the fighting talk, the prospect of an election this year remains really low.
In contradistinction, there was precious little said about the rather grey mammal in the room, largely the conviction of Independent TD Michael Lowry on tax offences.
A few TDs, such as Ruth Coppinger of Solidarity, brought it up directly. But the bigger parties mostly skirted the development and its ramifications.
One of the questions is whether or not Michael Lowry has some form of understanding with the Government. Varadkar and his lieutenants insisted yesterday there was none, but there is the admission on the record that he does get access to Ministers to raise constituency issues because he consistently supports the Government.
What part of that is not an understanding?
Anyway, in their defence, the Government pointed out Lowry had voted against the Government ten times. That was compared to 89 times he has supported the Government . That’s a 90 per cent strike rate - which kind of undermines their own argument.
