"À Aberystwyth, au pays de Galles, on aime l'Europe et on le dit"

Name of traveller

Florentin Collomp

Reason for travel

• reporting as foreign correspondent for the French newspaper Le Figaro on attitudes towards Brexit

Date of travel

June 2016

Le comté du Ceredigion, sur la côte ouest, est le plus europhile du Royaume-Uni. (Collomp n.p.)

Content

• agriculture:
  • uses cliché of Wales as full of sheep
  • mentions Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)
• customs: finds a Celtic solidarity between Wales and Brittany; the Welsh are closer to the Bretons than the English
• diet: visits a Spanish delicatessen shop who specialise in selling Welsh, French and Spanish produce
• politics:
  • relates attitudes towards Britain's membership in the EU in the days immediately before the referendum on 23 June 2016
  • puts Wales in the same category as Greece, Portugal and the Eastern European states of the EU on account of its povertymentions EU-funded schemes and the fact that Aberystwyth University is a major beneficiary
  • names local MP, the Liberal Democrat Mark Williams (b. 1966)
  • interviews Plaid Cymru County Councillor Mark Strong
  • mentions local anti-British sentiment and protests during a visit by Elizabeth II 1996
• terrain: stresses remoteness of Aberystwyth

Nationality of traveller

French

Language of publication

French

Gender of traveller

Male

Type of publication

report

Citation

Collomp, Florentin. "À Aberystwyth, au pays de Galles, on aime l'Europe et on le dit." Le Figaro (20 June 2016): n.p. Print.