Brexit: give me a positive effect (2022 remastered edition) II
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TheDecameron
Unicorns fart glitter.
Loud guffawing could be heard in Brussels and Strasbourg tonight.
TheDecameron
Unicorns fart glitter.
Reaction from our closest friends in Europe,
eternumviti
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You've gotta laff. Verhofstadt and Johnson are cut from opposite ends of the same roll of cloth.
TheDecameron
Unicorns fart glitter.
Trump and Britain Trump- finally gone. Both thought they could bring down the EU. We just need the party out of office now, once they’ve torn themselves apart over who’s the true keeper of the Brexit flame.
Quite funny how the EU has only not survived but prospered in the face of Lord Frost and the ERG. Unfortunately, though, Trump (and Trumpism) could make a comeback (2022 and 24), Boris might be bluffing, and Steve Baker is waiting in the wings holding a Bible upside down (bizarre interview on Sky this morning btw). It's a good day though, let's enjoy it.
Reaction from our closest friends in Europe,
Has there ever been a successful populist?
eternumviti
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Exactly what do you mean when you say the EU has 'prospered', dare I ask?
Joe Hutch
Mate of the bloke
It has sent its stormtroopers into every EU country, seizing control of all broadcast media stations and newspapers. All national flags and anthems are banned on pain of death, and ‘Ode to Joy’ blares out from PA systems in all town squares, with the blue and gold flag of the EUSSR fluttering from every flagpole and public building.
And that is just the beginning.
And that is just the beginning.
TheDecameron
Unicorns fart glitter.
There’s a panzer division lurking down a hedgerow in EV’s imagination and they’re waiting for von der Leyen to lower the baton,
eternumviti
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I think you might be getting carried away. I thought we'd established that the EU doesn't have any Panzers.
Well, you might be going a bit far, but there are certainly already elements of actualite in your musings.
Anyway, someone mentioned that the EU was 'prospering'?
Well, you might be going a bit far, but there are certainly already elements of actualite in your musings.
Anyway, someone mentioned that the EU was 'prospering'?
There’s a panzer division lurking down a hedgerow in EV’s imagination and they’re waiting for von der Leyen to lower the baton,
The promise: the referendum would put to bed once and for all 30-odd years of Tory infighting. The result: 3 leadership contests, 3 PMs resigning, 2 general elections (possibly 3), and endless infighting/bickering/division - all in just 6 years. We are the new Italy, and Brussels high command is laughing.
eternumviti
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Sometimes the choice of words, even meant in humour, is revealing.
Some are saying that Germany is the new Italy. And I don't think that anyone in Brussels is laughing at the moment.
You were sayingthat the EU is prospering. I'm aching for you to back that up with some numbers.
Prospered in the face of Brexit - briefly: the list of countries that want to join the EU is as robust as ever, some even want to speed up the application process; it has improved the EU's image worldwide (always good for new membership drives), it has strengthened ties between Brussels and member countries, and Brussels and the US. It has reaffirmed/cemented what the majority of member countries already know - the positives of EU membership outweigh the negatives (by some margin). It has dissuaded member countries from holding their own divisive in/out referendums. It has also helped Ursula - having started on shaky ground she has gone from strength to strength. Contrast all that with events here - death by a thousand Brexit cuts.
Germany is the new Italy?
Seeker_UK
Feelin' nearly faded as my jeans
Current figures show that Eurozone countries are doing better than the UK in terms of GDP per capita.
The UK has higher debt per capita than the Eurozone.
https://countryeconomy.com/countries/compare/euro-zone/uk
The prediction for the UK economy is a greater increase in GDP than for Eurozone average but than 0.9% difference means that Eurozone GDP will be greater per capita than UK.
https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn02784/
The UK has higher debt per capita than the Eurozone.
https://countryeconomy.com/countries/compare/euro-zone/uk
The prediction for the UK economy is a greater increase in GDP than for Eurozone average but than 0.9% difference means that Eurozone GDP will be greater per capita than UK.
https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn02784/
eternumviti
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You've set out a list of short-term 'brexit positives' for the perception of the EU existing member countries, a perception into which must be wound both a fear of contemplating leaving, given the vigour with which the Commission has applied its own erstwhile flexible 'rule of law' upon the divorce proceedings with the UK, and also a dawning realisation amongst EZ members that to do so is anyway essentially impossible. And the robustness of the desire of countries such as Moldova and Ukraine to join has absolutely nothing to do with brexit. I suspect too that any strengthening of ties between Brussels and the US is presaged upon Europe's realisation that it still depends upon America for its defence against a Russia that it thought that it had pacified with its 'economic partnership'.
The 'positives' of EU membership undoubtedly differ widely according to the wealth and standing of the member states - many people in France, for example, are not as much in favour of free movement as would be people in Romania, whilst German industry has thoroughly enjoyed the advantages conferred by the iniquitously low rate at which the DM became the Euro. I suspect you are referring in broad terms to the 'economic' benefits, which might variously relate to being a beneficiary of EU handouts, or the Single Market and the CU, all of which carry the 'benefit cost' of the progressive dilution of sovereign democracy, a cost that is held in more tenuous esteem by many people across the EU.
I don't think your list really defines as 'prospering'. The EU is no more actually 'prospering' than the UK, or any other country at the moment.
Zaiden
pfm Member
Biggest positive effect I can think of is that the EU can no longer be used as a scapegoat for things successive governments have actively ignored, that we can now focus on fixing with accountability, rather than using the EU as an excuse for why investments into society/regenerating non-London parts of the UK cannot be done.
Alternatively successive governments from this point will continue to do nothing about genuine issues faced by the UK populace. But at the very least, there won't be another convenient scapegoat for the political establishment to rely upon to pull wool over people's eyes, and they'll see the establishment being the ones who should be responsible as they should be - hopefully holding them accountable in the process.
Alternatively successive governments from this point will continue to do nothing about genuine issues faced by the UK populace. But at the very least, there won't be another convenient scapegoat for the political establishment to rely upon to pull wool over people's eyes, and they'll see the establishment being the ones who should be responsible as they should be - hopefully holding them accountable in the process.
eternumviti
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A point that I've made repeatedly, and is either enthusiastically mocked, or just ignored.
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