As it is I think it has already begun to come apart. Regardless of whether we leave or not 17 odd million people went to the polls and declared it a crock of shit. Thats without taking into account the rise of extreme political groups left and right across the continent, then we have increasingly terminal divides in not just our country but several others including France and Germany.
Then of course there is increasing economic gloom in Europe which is hardly surprising as three countries cannot carry several others who simply have not got the same capacity as others.
As it heads to more federalisation there increases the risk of conflict with Russia.
The EU aims to change and control how people of all kinds of nationality and ethnic, political and religious leanings live their lives. The clear signs that across Europe are against that are being ignored and something will give.
I have yet to hear one argument outlining how the EU can make countries as different as France Germany, Bulgaria, Albania (i know but it wont be long) all live and work under the same set of rules. It is inevitably failing.
17m went to the polls and did not declare it a crock of shit, they expressed a desire to leave. A similar, although slightly smaller amount of people went to the polls and expressed a desire to remain even if they thought it was a crock of shit. A crock of shit was never on the ballot paper and a significant number of people for whatever reason didnt even vote for or against this apparent crock of shit. That is the problem with referendum, people vote for imaginary crocks of shit or against imaginary crocks of shit rather than for positions that are believable and reasonable. There is increasing Economic gloom across the world, not just the EU this has much to do with Sino-USA trade war and the American bond markets reflect that, it has a negative yield curve which is a predictor of a world wide recession, not just an EU recession. Of course larger economies support smaller ones, London supports the UK economy for instance as its the dominant factor in the UK. The areas on the periphery should in theory benefit from London's wealth creation, that it does not is not the fault of the EU it is the fault of the UK government and its London/South East centric policies. They acknowledged that by producing the northern powerhouse policy. That it has been a damp squib is the fault of the UK not the EU. There has been a staggering rise in the far right across Europe, mainly down to the fears of immigration. This is classic Alt-right terrority and fear of the unknown is easily exploited for political gain. Farage and his infamous poster based on Nazi propaganda was a huge factor in raising tensions, as was Mays send them home buses. The lack of understanding around immigration is shocking in this country and the demonisation of immigrants is nothing short of disgusting. That we helped this create this problem is overlooked and we have not taken responsibilty for our actions.
There is no indication that we are heading towards more federalisation, which is a shame as i would welcome it, why would it increase tensions with Russia, they have enough of their own issues and Putin is under pressure at home. The fear of Russian Bear is cold war stuff, the cold war is past history and Russia IMHO should at some point be welcomed into the EU.
How exactly are the EU changing the way people live, their ethnic and religious leanings? What are these clear plans? Perhaps you could explain this to us. Please don't answer with any ridiculous reference to the White Nationalist,anti semite, Count Coudenhove -Kalergi
As for your last point, the UK has managed to live together for centuries, it has a single currency, it has a Parliament albeit with new regional parliaments, we live under virtually the same laws. We have a single armed forces, freedom of movement, rights to language are followed, The UK used that model to become the premier nation in the world, it works. It is only now with the rise of the far right that this is being challenged. We have English nationalism on the rise and therein lies the problem. The USA also lives under a similarish system, one of 50 different states with a common central government, a single currency and armed forces. It is proven the model can work as the USA is the most powerful nation in the world. Europe has prospered for 50 years under the EU/EEC it is not the finished article and there is much that can be improved but it works for the simple reason there has not been a European war of significance since 1945 and that has to count for something on a continent that has been ravaged by war for generations. Yes there can be improvements to the EU, it could be more democratic for a start, but it is a young project and it will evolve in time given the support it needs.
This is from somebody who did not vote remain, but from a person who is getting really annoyed at the misinformation being used to achieve a political end. It is something straight out of the Goebbels play book.
1/ Don't bother trying to persuade the intellectuals, just sway the undereducated lumpemproletariat.
2/ Appeal to them via emotional triggers rather than specific detailed ideas
3/ If anyone questions your lies call them unpatriotic traitors.
There are noble reasons to leave the EU and their are noble reasons to remain in the EU, it is a shame the debate has plumbed the depths it has, the nationalistic hubris and the amount of unrequited lies has distorted the debate to such an extent it has divided the country in a way the country has never been divided before.
