Distance oneself from European eccentric (8)
I believe the answer is:
estrange
'distance' is the definition.
(both can mean to create distance or separation)
'oneself from european eccentric' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'european' could be 'e' (abbreviation e.g. EU) and 'e' is located in the answer.
'eccentric' could be 'strange' (synonyms) and 'strange' is located in the answer.
No letters remain.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for estrange that I've seen before include "Make enemy of sergeant" , "Make bad friends with sergeant" , "Anger set (anag.)" , "Lose friendship" , "Get on the wrong side of" .)