Holland tries to use tea to get Brits to stay in the EU as Brussels admits Brexit is a possibility
Dutch newspaper says it admires our 'stiff upper lip' and needs us
EU CHIEF Donald Tusk joined a love-bombing of Britain today – as he admitted it was “very difficult to be optimistic” about the Referendum result.
The EU Council chief said the UK was a “key state” and insisted its influence in Brussels had never been stronger.
AD newspaper love-bombed Britain with this front page appeal
And he begged: “There are so many things we can do together."
He added: “Leaving now doesn’t make sense.”
Speaking in Helsinki, Mr Tusk repeated a warning that a Brexit would be “very dangerous” for the UK and EU economies - and that it would leave both “weaker”.
But experts said the comments marked the first indication Brussels believes a Brexit could actually happen.
Mr Tusk said: “I know it’s very difficult for us to be optimistic today, we know the latest polls.
“But it’s 50-50, everything is possible.”
It came just hours after a Dutch newspaper responded to the Sun’s call for readers to “BeLeave in Britain” by saying an EU without the UK would be “like tea without milk”.
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The Dutch daily AD featured an adapted Union flag on its front page with the words “don’t leave the this way” – adding: “We admire your stiff upper lip.”
In open letter AD said: “Britain Hello, This is your neighbour calling.
“Please do not leave us.”
“Nobody in Europe appreciates your culture more than we do. The Beatles, Bridget Jones, One Direction, EastEnders, Brideshead Revisited fame, we love it all. Many of us know Monty Python’s Dead Parrot sketch by heart.
“We admire your stiff upper lip. And every year we remember, with the greatest respect, all Those Who have fallen to liberate our country.
“Now you are thinking of leaving us. Sailing out your floating country towards distant shores, so says your largest newspaper, The Sun.
“Talking as a Dutch uncle, we have to tell you this is not a good idea. We not only love you, we need you.”
Later, European Commission President Jean Claude Juncker admitted the EU has to learn from the British referendum – admitting Eurosceptism across the Continent was rife.
He said: “This Eurosceptism is not only present in Britain. I think that as a European Union and as a Commission we made some major mistakes in the last decades.”