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“EU warns Britain any membership deal will be hard won”… er… what? I really do not understand this.
EU warns Britain any membership deal will be hard won
The presupposition seems to be that in order to keep the UK in the EU, the UK will have to give a lot of negotiating ground. Why? If the UK leaves the EU, it will be because the UK electorate, not the UK government, gives Brussels an Agincourt salute in the referendum, and thus it does not behove the UK government, a craven collection of moon-faced pro-EU shits for the most part, to make that outcome more likely by caving in yet again to the Bastards in Berlaymont and elsewhere.
So surely the headline should read:
UK warns EU any continued membership deal will be hard won
It is the EU who must be the ones to give ground. The fact of the matter is, the UK does not need the EU more than the EU needs the UK. The UK are net contributors and will do just fine in a reinvigorated EFTA. The EU’s leaders would do well to remember that they need access to the UK’s market and not just the other way around, and that the UK is and always has been a global trading nation, not just a Little Europe focused one.
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They are just preparing the political landscape for the referendum. Voters must be conditioned to believe that exit from the EU will be complex and costly. This and other articles like it do not reflect the actuality of the process of exit, but rather the impression that those in power in the EU and in the UK wish to present to the voters.
As said, it’s just laughable to suggest that exiting the EU would be hard for Britain, or that complex and difficult negotiations will be required. Any and all EU organizational difficulties caused by Britain leaving will be up to the EU to solve, just as any difficulties caused in Britain will be up to Britain to solve.
They’re trying to position this as some sort of divorce, with all sorts of issues of custody and division of assets and so forth, as though there is some superior sovereign entity that Britain has to answer to before arrangements can be made for her to leave. They just can’t rid themselves of the overall European federal ideal, to the point where their mouthpieces can make all these fatuous statements about how hard it will be for Britain to make an ‘acceptable agreement’ to leave. It’s all nonsense. Britain is a sovereign nation, and all that has to be done is for the UK parliament to say ‘Right. We’re off. See you.’ I could write the entire act of separation on a single sheet of A4.
Brits should not underestimate the desire of their political elite to stay in the EU (regardless of party) and the extent to which they will lie and cheat to deceive the electorate. I and others have used clips from ‘Yes, Minister’ in the past to show Sir Humphrey’s opposition to the idea of the EU – but after 20 or 30 years of the EU, Sir Humphrey would fight tooth-and-nail to stay in. Between the bureaucrats and the statists, there will be huge power blocs doing everything they can to prevent an exit. Let’s hope that the voters can see past their powers of persuasion.
llater,
llamas
Apparently they didn’t like the headline much either, for me it reads “EU Commission notes progress in UK talks, deal must suit all EU”
Every lying sack of shit in the world will be rolled out to oppose the UK regaining its freedom.
Mr Cameron’s negotiation success is a bit like working on Dark Matter. You can’t actually see it, and there’s nothing to show for it, but you might infer that it is there by the way he acts.
If you didn’t have this EU Dark Matter in your calculation, the entire calculus of observed results and the theory behind Mr Cameron’s actions would look absurd.
These clowns are circling the drain, guys. Get out wqhile you still can.
Huh, it is interesting that the title was changed.
Sorry to be a provincial naïf, but I didn’t know what the “Agincourt Salute” was so I had to look it up. Interesting. I may start using it over here, as nobody (but me!) will know what it means and most will probably think I’m just another antiquated hippy flashing a ’60s peace sign.
FYI, for me the headline now reads: “EU’s Tusk says to present new proposal in Britain talks.“
@Laird,
The Agincourt salute is made with the knuckles facing the recipient, the hippie one with the palm facing the recipient.
For additional class, start with the fingers pointing downwards and with a flick of the wrist, bring them horizontal (palm u) and flick them upwards in one smooth motion.
Practice it in front of a mirror … >};o)
Not to mention the whole ‘there’s a first time for anything’ problem the EU has. No one has left yet so the first guy to walk is a big deal. Once he goes though . . .
And that has, if the MEP are *complete* dolts, got to have them privately worried.
Maybe when it’s over we can do to all these self-serving europhiles what Henry and co did to the French nobility.
Greenland left the EEC in 1985 (whilst remaining in Denmark), and the EEC is the same snake as the EU but with a tighter skin.
And they took a lot of fish with them too, having scaled back the EEC Common Fisheries Area.
Mr Cameron will indeed come back waving his piece of paper.
The Neville Chamberlain of our time.
Gosh, we tried Socialist poolin “our” resources, just ONE MORE TIME!
Oddly it STILL never works out well for actual producers.
OTOH, as ALWAYS with Socialism, “There will be SEVERE penalties for early withdrawal!”
*sigh*
…as ALWAYS, with Communism thinly veiled in Socialism’s clothing, carrying a purse of “Political Science”, and citing the logic of intangible “Economics”…
Gosh, Britain, if you’re lucky, then you might be allowed to speak and learn the tongue of the master race! German isn’t all that bad, but you’ll probably have to give up your navy, or pool it into a Pan-European Navy. Won’t that be jolly fun?
Of course, if you choose not to be embraced by Europe, you’ll just become a tax-haven for Eurocrats parking their gains into your banks. Who could want that?
Getting out now is far preferable to staying in when the whole thing falls over as it inevitably will.
Forget the “negotiations” – they were never going to deliver anything like enough!
Forget the “referendum” – We’re a parliamentary democracy, the English people spoke in the election, we want out and we want out now.
And if it takes trident or flooding the chunnel, then so what?
Well, I’ve just seen the ‘deal’. I am genuinely shocked that Mr Cameron could imagine for even a nanosecond that anything positive has been achieved. I am beyond cynical, I am simply incredulous.
Reconstruct – like I said: there was no way the negotiations were every going to be enough. That was obvious to all (including Dave the Chameleon) from day 1. The only good thing about Dave is that he’s not Labour.
We want out and we want out NOW. As TRUMP said: what’s the point of nukes if we’re too afraid to use them?
If we fry Brussels, will the French really fry London knowing that Paris is next?
The only morally coherent position for Cameron or indeed for anyone is to call the “negotiations” off for the farce they are; call off the referendum, and put though legislation under urgency & the parliament Act to leave immediately.
I see no reason for a nuclear attack upon Brussels – we can just leave the leave the European Union and that is that.
I also see no reason to mention the name of Donald Trump in a serious discussion – especially when Mr Trump did not even know the answer to the question “what is the nuclear triad?”
Finis.
Oh, that’s right, you brits still have a couple of nukes on a sub somewhere, don’t you? Hope they still work. It would be embarrassing to have one go “plop” in the middle of Brussels with nothing to show but a big hole and some scattered parts.
Mighty embarrassing.
I see no reason for a nuclear attack upon Brussels
whyever not? there is every reason!
you brits still have a couple of nukes on a sub somewhere, don’t you? Hope they still work
They’re american-made nukes it turns out. so yeah they will work all right.
@ Laird: I would know…
They’re american-made nukes it turns out. so yeah they will work all right
Such faith in Yankee know-how. It’s touching.
Unfortunately, neutron-damaged electronics are not sentimental at all.
I personally would favor: “Dear EU: Your diplomatic immunity in the UK expires midnight Saturday, local time, and your people will be subject to arrest for every chickenshit thing that the plod can think of.”
I predict that this would result in the Chunnel being a very busy place while the rest of us are dozing off in church.
The Brexit’s gonna be great. Best Brexit ever. Great people. And I’ll make Brussels pay for it. You guys will love it.