Political relations between UK-EU

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Ric

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It's the start of a new era for the UK and the EU, so it makes sense to have a new thread too. Let's keep the discussion sensible and civil, and free of the personal arguments that plagued the previous threads. Thanks.
 
The problem before was that we were an EU full member but with so many opt-outs that we effectively had one foot out. We weren't in the Eurozone or Schengen area and seemed to be fighting battles all the time.

Now we aren't a member, we may be able to build a more constructive relationship, based on the things we want to do, rather than the things we don't.
 
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Lets hope that UK becomes a bastion of Socialism that drifts away from the Neo-liberalism of the EU.

A good revolution is what we need, abolish the monarchy, tear down the establishment and give power to the people and in the spirit of the Socialist International we become a beacon that spreads the message of Democratic Socialism to our friends across the Channel.

As Vladimir Illych said

"Freedom in capitalist society always remains about the same as it was in ancient Greek republics: Freedom for slave owners."

Break the chains of the Neo Liberal capitalist exploiters and claim the nation for the working class who will establish the UK as a society where abundance means nobody struggles and everyone prospers.
 
Prestwich_Blue said:
The problem before was that we were an EU full member but with so many opt-outs that we effectively had one foot out. We weren't in the Eurozone or Schengen area and seemed to be fighting battles all the time.

Now we aren't a member, we may be able to build a more constructive relationship, based on the things we want to do, rather than the things we don't.
Click to expand...

What do we want to do?
 
Rascal said:
Lets hope that UK becomes a bastion of Socialism that drifts away from the Neo-liberalism of the EU.

A good revolution is what we need, abolish the monarchy, tear down the establishment and give power to the people and in the spirit of the Socialist International we become a beacon that spreads the message of Democratic Socialism to our friends across the Channel.

As Vladimir Illych said

"Freedom in capitalist society always remains about the same as it was in ancient Greek republics: Freedom for slave owners."

Break the chains of the Neo Liberal capitalist exploiters and claim the nation for the working class who will establish the UK as a society where abundance means nobody struggles and everyone prospers.
Click to expand...
And I thought Ric was an optimist.
 
Prestwich_Blue said:
The problem before was that we were an EU full member but with so many opt-outs that we effectively had one foot out. We weren't in the Eurozone or Schengen area and seemed to be fighting battles all the time.

Now we aren't a member, we may be able to build a more constructive relationship, based on the things we want to do, rather than the things we don't.
Click to expand...
Sounds like a sensible approach.
 
Prestwich_Blue said:
The problem before was that we were an EU full member but with so many opt-outs that we effectively had one foot out. We weren't in the Eurozone or Schengen area and seemed to be fighting battles all the time.

Now we aren't a member, we may be able to build a more constructive relationship, based on the things we want to do, rather than the things we don't.
Click to expand...
Which is fine, but only if we are allowed to do the things we want to do. More likely everything we want to do that diverges from the agreement will have to be negotiated and ‘bought’.
The other great issue is with every change in government, the things we want will change.
Not sure of the reaction we’ll get when we first knock on the door and say this bit of the agreement isn’t working out like we thought, or we didn’t foresee this happening can we change it.
And there will be bits that cause unforseen issues as it’s pretty much off the shelf old agreements copy and pasted.
 
BobKowalski said:
What do we want to do?
Click to expand...
I would say co-operate in a number of areas like security, intelligence & policing, research. Brexit is (to use a phrase of Churchill's) not the beginning of the end but the end of the beginning. It's not the end of our relationship with Europe but the beginning of a new one.

The truth is that the EU is a collection of vested interests, where the Germans controlled the finances, to the detriment of most other countries (particularly in Southern Europe). The French were happy to tag along because they had the sop of the wasteful Common Agricultural Policy. It's done nothing to halt increasing authoritarianism and de-liberalisation in Poland & Hungary.

The Common Market was an excellent economic idea but the French & Germans had delusions of grandeur and wanted a vanity project involving increasing political and monetary convergence.The Euro is a sticking plaster covering up all sorts of monetary and fiscal issues. Freedom of movement was another piece of economic illiteracy, which just allowed the redistribution of scarce labour market skills (and therefore potential tax revenues) from poorer countries to richer ones.

I'm not claiming that being out is all sweetness and light by any means but at least we'll be hopefully doing things for positive reasons rather than deciding that this or that latest EU requirement isn't for us. I've always said I'd rather we were out, with one foot in, than in, with one foot out.
 
Rascal said:
Lets hope that UK becomes a bastion of Socialism that drifts away from the Neo-liberalism of the EU.

A good revolution is what we need, abolish the monarchy, tear down the establishment and give power to the people and in the spirit of the Socialist International we become a beacon that spreads the message of Democratic Socialism to our friends across the Channel.

As Vladimir Illych said

"Freedom in capitalist society always remains about the same as it was in ancient Greek republics: Freedom for slave owners."

Break the chains of the Neo Liberal capitalist exploiters and claim the nation for the working class who will establish the UK as a society where abundance means nobody struggles and everyone prospers.
Click to expand...

Wolfie Smith Posters | Redbubble
 
Len Rum said:
Some good(ish) news if true.
FT reporting rules of origin checks between EU/UK not to apply for a year.
Click to expand...

Makes sense, the UK isn’t doing customs checks for six months so there will be a de facto transition period allowing businesses to prepare for the new rules and obligations.

Expecting businesses to adapt and be legally compliant with the new rules in a few days was always going to be a tough ask.
 
Prestwich_Blue said:
I would say co-operate in a number of areas like security, intelligence & policing, research. Brexit is (to use a phrase of Churchill's) not the beginning of the end but the end of the beginning. It's not the end of our relationship with Europe but the beginning of a new one.

The truth is that the EU is a collection of vested interests, where the Germans controlled the finances, to the detriment of most other countries (particularly in Southern Europe). The French were happy to tag along because they had the sop of the wasteful Common Agricultural Policy. It's done nothing to halt increasing authoritarianism and de-liberalisation in Poland & Hungary.

The Common Market was an excellent economic idea but the French & Germans had delusions of grandeur and wanted a vanity project involving increasing political and monetary convergence.The Euro is a sticking plaster covering up all sorts of monetary and fiscal issues. Freedom of movement was another piece of economic illiteracy, which just allowed the redistribution of scarce labour market skills (and therefore potential tax revenues) from poorer countries to richer ones.

I'm not claiming that being out is all sweetness and light by any means but at least we'll be hopefully doing things for positive reasons rather than deciding that this or that latest EU requirement isn't for us. I've always said I'd rather we were out, with one foot in, than in, with one foot out.
Click to expand...
A lot to be said for this. While the negotiations were clearly not all sweetness and light, it was encouraging that both teams seemed to respect each other and not harbour any acrimony going forwards. There still actually seems to be a lot of trust in the terms of the agreement rather than a sense that it's some sort of post-war border settlement, so fingers crossed we can now concentrate on our similarities rather than differences.
 
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