Danny:-
"this may be the price of a meal for you - you must take it."
My last job before retiring was with Virgin Express, based in Brussels and holding a Belgian AOC. One of their pilots explained the Belgian philosophy to me over a beer (in English I'm afraid Danny, linguistic ability was never my strong point, unlike you).
"They either invade us from the East or from the West, either way you have to do the same thing, bury all your valuables in the back garden and pray that some day you'll be able to dig them up again".
Not wishing to pre-empt the promised referendum, I do however think that this is a crucial difference between the Brits and our Continental neighbours (not showing my hand too much there I hope!). They have nearly all been thus invaded within living memory, or made a bob or two by having their supposed neutrality made useful to both sides. The Brits came close, as they have many times before, to being invaded but were reprieved, as they have been many times before. So never mind burying it, let's spend it!
Whichever philosophy is the better, I couldn't say. I merely make the point that they are very different.
Happy New Year everyone!