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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsBREXIT: What We're Not Being Told About the European Union Referendum
Collective Evolution ROBITO CHATWINJUNE 22, 2016
In the EU referendum about whether or not the UK should remain in the European Union, the UK government warned that leaving the EU could mean 10 years of uncertainty as new trade deals are formed, and even a collapse of the UK economy with a year of recession.
Meanwhile, the news media and anti-EU politicians concentrated on the topic of immigration, leaving the general public in fear of increasing migrants who will drain the economy and swarm their towns (source).
This same fear mongering happened in Norway when they held a referendum in 1994 (source); yet Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Switzerland, as non-EU members within Europe, enjoy some of the highest living standards in the world.
Iceland was also the only country to put bankers in prison instead of bail them out (source) and Norway will ban the sale of all fossil fuel-based cars in the next decade (source)...
...That is the role of the European Commission, which consists of 28 commissioners one for each member country. These people are not elected but chosen by each countrys current leader. It is these unelected commissioners who create the laws, not the leaders or MEPs we vote in.....snip
...Trade Agreements
Maybe you have heard about TTIP or CETA? These are new versions of this same trade agreement which now incorporate the USA and Canada, as corporations push harder than ever for their monopoly over governments to be enforced for the greater good...snip
Read More: http://www.collective-evolution.com/2016/06/22/brexit-unitedstatesofeurope/
Thanks Britain!
Spider Jerusalem
(21,786 posts)Switzerland has less than the population of London. Norway has less than the population of Scotland. Iceland has roughly the population of Cardiff. Liechtenstein has a population of about 36000. There isn't a comparison there.
nationalize the fed
(2,169 posts)it would never work in the US because Holland is very small.
That argument is absurd.
the fact is that those countries have a better standard of living than the US and they aren't part of the EU.
By the way, why didn't Britain adopt the Euro?
Meldread
(4,213 posts)Iceland was also the only country to put bankers in prison instead of bail them out (source) and Norway will ban the sale of all fossil fuel-based cars in the next decade (source)...
That is the part you highlighted, apparently because you thought it was important. Except the fact that Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Switzerland have never been part of the European Union. They are part of the European Free Trade Association and three of them (all but Switzerland) is part of the European Economic Area. Switzerland has other agreements in place of EEA.
There is a lot of magical thinking going on. First, since you highlight it as important apparently you are assuming that the UK's living standards are going to rise, that the UK will put bankers in prison, and/or and the sale of all fossil fuel-based cars will end now--and probably other things now that it is out of the EU. Fat chance.
First, the people who won the Leave Campaign are far right nationalists who have a strong neoliberal agenda. If you don't like the EU's neoliberal policies, they are going to be even worse under the Tory's and UKIP. No liberal agenda items will be achieved.
Second, even assuming that the EU allowed the UK into the EFTA and EEA, it is going to undermine everything that they campaigned on and why the people voted. They are still going to be sending money to the EU, they are still going to have open borders with the EU allowing both people and goods to flow freely, and the only difference will be is that they will have less influence in the EU because they wouldn't be members--even as they are largely still subject to all of the EU's laws and regulations. Things become even MORE undemocratic for them, and they have a worse position overall both economically and politically.
Third, because the far right nationalists made certain promises (especially as it relates to immigration), and because the EU does not want to make it seem like the UK is benefiting from leaving (if it seems that way there will be a stronger desire for others to leave and get a similar deal), something like the EFTA and EEA are not likely to happen. The UK will get some agreements and trade deals, but it is going to be heavily favorable to the EU and much less favorable than anything that they had before. I wouldn't be shocked to see the EU move to make a Scottish exit a smooth transition into the EU, just to ensure that the UK breaks up. They may even work out some deal with Northern Ireland, for example, encouraging them to become an independent state and give them easy access into the EU like Scotland. Northern Ireland reuniting with the Republic of Ireland could be messy and difficult, but this could be a half-way step toward that goal. That way Northern Ireland, due to their EU membership, will not have a land border with the Republic of Ireland to the south. This isolates England, shrinks its economy, and makes it a tiny nation on a fractured island. Meanwhile, London is no longer the financial capital of Europe. ...and likely, along the way just for spite, England and Wales would still not be able to fully control their borders due to the new trade agreements made.
That is the most likely outcome of this for England and the UK as a whole.