and another update in my series, Brexit Is Racist, Episode 600
Having seen all the football thugs at the last pro-Brexit demo I can’t say anyone is remotely surprised by this.
It looks like the queen is a traitor, somehow. Must be cause she’s German.
The UK + France have been way more closely aligned over the past 200 years than France + Germany. The current standing of the UK with the rest of Europe is a recent development and its own fault.
The UK has had opportunities to reform things it didn’t like, and never done much to affect change. Once again, the UK has only itself to blame.
Besides the fact that the problem with the EU is that a whole lot of its members have common interests and act together to push the EU in a direction indicated by those interests is a very strange criticism of the EU.
Aceris
4472
Diplomatically yes, less socially/economically etc. In any case my point is more that there are many small EU states that are similar to France and Germany, not that France and Germany are super-similar to each other.
I really am curious to know what diplomatic errors the UK made pre 2014 that meant an election between two arch-federalists both opposed by UK parties was the UK’s “own fault”.
Outside of that they could have been building coalitions to affect change they felt was needed with the EU to better serve everyone outside of the core Franco-German alliance. But at least on my part, I never read about that happening.
Aceris
4474
But it’s not a criticism of the EU! It’s an explanation of why the UK’s influence has been limited.
Aceris
4475
These were attempted, there was certainly common ground sought with Portugal, Spain, Italy and Holland at times. Indeed the Franco-German axis had fallen somewhat out of focus pre-2008. The financial crisis was a huge disruptor.
Furthermore diplomatic coalitions tend to be disrupted by changes of government, both in the UK and abroad, whereas more fundamental common interests and attitudes are more enduring. Once the Eurozone was formed with the UK on the outside that accentuated this effect.
And I really want to emphasise that this is not a criticism of EU, @scottagibson actually gets it completely right - many EU members have common interests and act to push the EU in a direction indicated by those interests, and that’s completely natural. However it is a reason the UK might want to leave - as a peripheral state whose interests and desires frequently run counter to the majority that too seems completely natural.
The fact it doesn’t seem at all natural to many is a key indicator that EU patriotism has a great deal in common with other forms of patriotism.
It kinda reads like both, but I take your point. Sorry.
Are there concrete policy examples where the UK has legitimately opposite goals than the majority of the EU? Aside from the overarching issue of greater integration / more federalism, I mean. Or, put another way, how much of the pushback is emotional, e.g. sovereignty and nationalism vs actual policy disagreement?
Aceris
4477
I digressed into more critical commentary later on. 😀
I feel I have to point out that the Netherlands is, in fact, not part of the French-German axis. It’s always been Anglo-Saxon in both economics and politics and the UK is considered an ally in EU dealings against the French-German axis. This was the main reason why it was the Netherlands that lobbied for the UK to join the EU in the first place.
The politicians here aren’t too pleased with that particular loss of influence if Brexit goes ahead.
I’m not even sure the idea that the UK didn’t regularly get what it wanted, that it didn’t majorly influence the EU is right, the stats of just what the UK voted against that ended up passing tell a much different story, if the stats I’ve seen are right usually the UK ended up on the winning side of the vast majority of issues (>90%).
So what if the rest of the EU was moving in a different way, if it didn’t get to pick the President, if Germany had gained an oversized influence due to the Euro crisis? The UK had exceptions from pretty much everything it wanted, and it only became an issue once if went for even more exceptions, this time for something that is a red line and at the moment totally a non issue for the rest of the EU, namely free movement from the rest of the EU.
The UK was a major influencer of the EU. It helped shape the rules, make them more to it’s benefit, etc, etc. Too bad the government never bothered to inform the voters of this and instead had them convinced the EU was a foreign project that the UK had little influence over, serving only to impose unpopular foreign rules on the UK
Not to mention the big project of the Commission over the last two decades, the harmonisation of rules for financial services and the expansion of passporting or equivalent regimes, was massively in favour the UK, even if the sector often griped about specifics of the rules. And the UK was able, until it indicated it was walking away, to ameliorate or block pretty much everything it was dead set against, whether it was the Financial Transactions Tax, direct powers for the European Supervisory Authorities, getting the matching adjustment in Solvency II and dropping capital requirements for pension funds.
I dont blame them. The patience of our EU allies has been incredible.
The UK has the best deal out of any country in the EU. In every instance where the UK could gain some advantage with an opt out or exception it was granted over the decades.
With Brexit the UK behaved like a spoilt brat.
It’s not about racism they say.
True, it’s about transphobia too.
“Long live the empire, you c****! And why are there transgender toilets for children?” - An Anti-EU protester gatecrashes a remain march.
Is this a parody?
or was it voiced over later?
Find it hard to believe one guy and his camera went on the streets saying what he was saying.
I’d have knocked him out!
17m people voted to tell this guy its OK to say what he says.
draxen
4486
Great picture in the Mirror today :)
Saw this on another forum. Can’t stop laughing.
