The UK’s obsession over the US presidential election hit fever pitch this week. The public’s fascination and bewilderment over the tragic comedy that was the American election spread far and wide. Over recent days almost every inch of column space and almost every second of air time was filled with endless gawping at the US electoral process. Watching all of this may trick you into believing that this was the only election ever to take place any where in the world.

Why all the attention? Why do we spend months endlessly debating the US election, but the elections in Spain and Ireland earlier this year barely achieved a passing mention?

The more apparent and most often cited reason is that the US president is more than just that, they represent the ‘Leader of the Free World’. Of course this is a painfully outdated term and concept; first used to describe the United States in the 1950s as the leader of ‘free’, non-communist, nations during a period of cold war uncertainty. The end of the Cold War and a steady decline in global popularity for the US makes the notion absurd.

Although the US maintains a leadership role in NATO, the fortunate lack of any large scale on-going military conflicts today means a change in president no longer means a significant change in combat strategy with ramifications felt across the world. When combined with President-Elect Trump’s isolationist policies on trade and his indifference to NATO, the belief that the US would be electing the next ‘Leader of the Free World’ becomes ridiculous.

The second suggestion is that we should spend more time studying the US election because it impacts us. This argument begs the questions as to why we care so little about elections in other allied countries which have a clear impact on the future of the UK, and shouldn’t we be trying to understand them instead?

Consider the French presidential election, which is currently in the midst of it’s primary elections, or the German election which is beginning to gear up. Whoever wins those elections will be the ones literally at the negotiating table deciding the terms of the UK’s exit from the EU. These elections have a clear and distinct impact on the future of the UK.

It is often suggested that the UK should pay attention to US elections because of the ‘special relationship’ we have with our allies across the Atlantic, and that this may impact our chances of achieving a post-Brexit trade deal. However, this is a hypothetical trade deal that might happen in some distant future, and whoever is in the White House is unlikely to have much of an impact on the chances of a deal.

But what is not a hypothetical situation is the UK negotiating it’s EU departure. European political leaders may find it electorally beneficial to take a hard stance on how they will handle Brexit. Some will certainly make it clear to their voters that they will go into negotiations fighting for their interests and that they don’t intend on giving the UK an easy time. Former-President Nicolas Sarkozy, who is again seeking his party’s candidacy for president, has already begun to outline a tough negotiating approach on Brexit.

The US election may be entertaining (or terrifying) to watch but it is the elections in Europe we should be watching. Ignore them at our peril.