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'No Turning Back' on Brexit as Article 50 Triggered (bbc.com)
An anonymous reader shares a BBC report: Britain's departure from the European Union is "an historic moment from which there can be no turning back," Theresa May has told MPs. The prime minister said it was a "unique opportunity" to "shape a brighter future" for the UK. She was speaking after Britain's EU ambassador formally triggered the two year countdown to the UK's exit by handing over a letter in Brussels. It follows June's referendum which resulted in a vote to leave the EU. In a statement in the Commons, the prime minister said: "Today the government acts on the democratic will of the British people and it acts too on the clear and convincing position of this House." She added: "The Article 50 process is now under way and in accordance with the wishes of the British people the United Kingdom is leaving the European Union."
Scotland just voted to have a post-Brexit independence referendum.
Without Scotland, there is no UK.
Just the greater Welsh Hegemony.
It's so sad that even after Brexit people like the above commenter continue to display their ignorance and have apparently no idea how the EU works or what it actually is. Here is an executive summary:
- The president of the European Council is elected by the heads of state of all member states.
- The president of the European Commission is elected by the European Council.
- The members of the European Parliament are elected directly from the citizens of the member states.
- The president of the European Parliament is elected by the European Parliament.
- The European Commission is not democratically elected, they are civil servants, but the European Parliament can dismiss it by a vote of censure or no confidence. Legislation of the European Commission must be approved by the European Parliament and/or by the European Council (depending on the kind of legislation).
- The European Council consists of the heads of state of all EU member states, the European Commission President and the High Representative for Foreign Affairs & Security Policy. Obviously, the heads of states are all elected democratically by the citizens of their respective country, since the EU does not allow member states that do not satisfy high democratic standards.
Not only that, the whole structure of the EU is the result of unanimous votes of all member states, which is one of the reasons why it took so long to built this union, and the European Council usually has to decide unanimously (= not a single vote against) and only under rarer exceptions by majority. This means that (by population) smaller countries have a much larger voice in the EU than larger countries, but since voting usually has to be unanimous, this has never caused any problems. Moreover, just like the EU has been built by their member states it can also be changed by their member states. But it doesn't stop there. The EU is also ridiculously cheap, the EU budget is only about 1% of the total GDP of its member states, and the 28 current EU countries spend about 50 times more on national expenses than on the EU budget!
And here is the most ironic and sad thing about the Brexit: Since 1985, the UK got a rebate of 66% on their EU spending! No joke, they got a 66% refund, just so they don't bitch around too much. Talking about ungratefulness...
Joining got a supermajority. Leaving got a barebones majority.
No, your children are not the special ones. Nor are your pets.
Why do you omit more than 50% of the populace who voted for Brexit?
(Barely) More than 50% of the people who voted, voted for leaving the EU. Less than 40% of the electorate, and less than 30% of the populace voted for Leave.
Considering the massive amount of propaganda for "remain" having over 50% for exit is an insanely high number.
There wasn't a "massive" amount of propaganda for Remain, which in hindsight is most likely why that side lost. Also obvious in hindsight is that using a simple majority to decide a monumental and irrevocable change to a nation's future is just bloody stupid.
We had the exact same situation then, just with a different name. A group of powerful unelected globalists
LYING MORON ALERT!!
Seriously how many times does this "unelected" meme have to be debunked, before people will finally STFU about it and stop spreading misinformation.
The European Parliament consists of MEPs which are democratically elected.
The European Council consists of the democratically lected heads of the member states governments.
The Council of Ministers conists of democratically elected ministers from each of the EU member states. Which minister depends on the topic under discussion.
The presidency of the EU is held by a member state and is elected for by your representatives in the EU council.
And then there's the EU commission. They write legislation---writing consistent legislation across 27.5 languages is a job best left ot the professionals---but have no power to pass legislation.
In fact that's like most governments. The representatives don't write legislation, they get the civil service to do it.
Anyone with any power to pass legislation in the EU is there as the result of an election.
SJW n. One who posts facts.
Just consider the position that the UK is in now.
The EU has total control over the Article 50 process. I gets to dictate timescales and what negotiations happen when. May pleaded with them no less than four times in the triggering letter to start trade negotiations in parallel with talks over the bill and EU citizen's right, but the EU has refused.
Yes, there is a bill. The UK agreed to contribute to various things and cannot now abandon those commitments without severe consequences. The bill is likely to be â40-60bn.
The EU thinks it will take about 6 months to work out the bill and what happens with EU citizens. They want to offer people in the UK "associate membership" on an individual level, so it needs time to work out. After that, trade negotiations can begin. There are about 12 months available for that, because another 6 will be required for the EU parliament to agree and ratify the deal.
In addition, if we try to negotiate any trade deals with other countries during that time, the EU walks away from the table and we crash out on WTO rules.
That isn't enough time to negotiate much, and the EU has already set out the basic deal on offer. The UK can get some access to the EU market, the amount dependent on how much of the EU rules we are willing to accept. So say we want financial services access, we will need to accept all EU financial services rules, no exceptions or negotiation, and if in future there are new ones they fax them to us and we comply, with the European Court of Justice overseeing. Also, we would have to pay in as if we were a member state, proportional to that access.
The only alternative is to crash out on WTO rules, which is economic suicide. The UK has no cards to play.
After the 2 years are up there will be a transition phase, during which we will still be operating under EU rules and the ECJ while everything is untangled. That will likely be another 2-3 years.
And after that, maybe five years from now, we will still be obeying EU rules if we want to sell stuff to them or have affordable medicines etc. And likely Scotland will have left, and maybe Northern Ireland, and perhaps Gibraltar.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC