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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."
They'll be poorer, less powerful and less influential. However, they might actually be happier. Or, at least a fraction of the population will be.
This is the only method member states have of telling the EU it's doing it wrong: leaving.
How is this comment modded up? Do you think the only way of telling your own government is to leave? The EU government, like the UK government, is full of elected officials.
Saying the UK has no control over the EU is like saying the West Midlands or Greater Manchester have no control over the UK.
-- All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. -- Edmund Burke
This is the only method member states have of telling the EU it's doing it wrong: leaving.
This isn't England taking their ball and going home. This is England slashing the ball up with a knife and breaking their own legs. The EU will find a new ball (probably one with a Scottish accent) and keep playing while England is stuck in bed with a broken leg for 6 months.
The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
UK out of the EU....Ireland in....what to do, what to do?
Finding God in a Dog
I don't think that's necessarily true.
All of the evidence actually suggests the opposite; it's continental Europe that will be in that position, and likely sooner rather than later.
The main disaster facing the EU now is their failed immigration policies. Yes, the UK has made some of the same mistakes, but getting out of the EU will help them remedy the situation on their end. But Europe, outside of a small number of Eastern European nations, has shown no real desire to enforce their borders properly. They've been flooded with millions of uneducated, unskilled, and often violent third-worlders from some of the worst places on Earth.
These foreigners have shown no willingness, or ability, to integrate into European society. In fact, it has often been the opposite: they want Europeans to conform to their beliefs and customs! We see this in the ethnic enclaves that have ruined large parts of many of Europe's oldest cities. We see this in the "no go" zones, where even the police are subject to violent attacks. We see this in the grenade attacks that now happen in Sweden every couple of weeks!
The really dangerous part is that even the European-born children and grandchildren of these foreigners refuse to integrate with European society in any positive way. There are parts of German cities, for instance, that now resemble Istanbul more than they do a German city. This has become a multi-generational disaster that will plague Europe for decades, if not centuries.
Not only have Europe's demographics been utterly destroyed, but their overall EU economy and that of the member states is in utter turmoil. Greece has been a disaster for about a decade now. Spain is only slightly better off than Greece. Italy is barely hanging on. There are numerous banks, including at least one in the economic powerhouse of Germany, that are on the brink.
These sorts of problems are just side effects of the rampant bureaucracy that has infected Europe, essentially paralyzing it with over-regulation and economic distortions.
At least the UK realizes there are serious problems that need to be addressed now. They're putting themselves in the position necessary to address their issues. But Europe? Aside from nations like Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, Europe is doing absolutely nothing to truly address the serious problems that are plaguing them now. These problems will only get worse, and will harm Europe for decades and perhaps even centuries to come. Europe will likely end up resembling the many failed states of Africa and the Middle East.
If a simple 50% majority was sufficient to join, then a 50% majority is sufficient to leave.
Neither should be the case as turning over so much power should be a supermajority decision of people in a nation (because if you can't convince most people that such a big change is a good idea, you have no business doing it.) But somehow people are trained to believe a simple majority is a godlike authority instead of an abstraction of might makes right, which it should be treated as.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
It's funny (in a sad kind of way) that OP is complaining about the EU not listening to its members.
The Brexit vote won with about 51% of the votes. That's not exactly a strong consensus, and IIRC, the regions that most strongly rejected Brexit were Scotland and Northern Ireland. Yet, they were railroaded, and Brexit went ahead anyway.
This wouldn't be "so" bad given other circumstances, but the problem is compounded because back when Scotland had its own referendum, there were already grumblings about the "Brexit", but Scotland rejected independence because they were given assurance that everything was fine and that the UK would remain in the EU.
Fast forward a bit, and, unsurprisingly, they were back-stabbed. And now, they - and Northern Ireland - want an independence referendum.
This referendum, of course, will be punted forward indefinitely. "Now is not the time", and similar political bullcrap.
So, which Union is not listening to it's members again?
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-nor...
Scotland is definitely leaving the EU along with UK. If they vote for independence, they could reapply to the EU. But this is far from automatic, since there are other EU members that are struggling to discourage their own secessionists.
http://www.politico.eu/article...
put real border control on the UK border
Don't they have some wall they could fix up a bit ?
Why do you omit more than 50% of the populace who voted for Brexit? Considering the massive amount of propaganda for "remain" having over 50% for exit is an insanely high number.
It's almost like you are actually ignoring facts to back an ideology. Why does that seem so familiar? Oh, I got it! The elitists in the US did and do the same thing. People have caught on to the game, repeating the lies won't make the true. All it does at this point is expose the amount of people involved in attempting to maintain the charade.
-The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.
The Merkel that very successfully pulled Germany through the world's worst economic crisis in decades, accomplished a budget surplus during the crises, saved the Euro multiple times and prevented political chaos across the continent, you mean? How exactly?
Exactly, the same Merkel who introduced over 2 million Syrian refugees into a country over under 100 million, welcoming all those people to rape women in the streets and drive trucks through crowded markets....all while incomprehensibly ignoring people suffering and dying in Afghanistan, South Sudan, Somalia and a dozen other war torn nations. What is it about Syria, their suffering his hardly unique.
The same Merkel who, in addition to destroying any potential for German to succeed for generations to come is forcing other EU member nations to create the same internal disasters for themselves. So not only has she wiped out Germany, she's bringing down the EU.
She is their worst leader since Hitler, and if there's ever an exception to Godwin's law, this is it.
Britain has survived far worse. What makes you think leaving the EU will be the death knell?
That's an easy one to answer: Scottish independence. Without Scotland we are no longer Great Britain and certainly not a United Kingdom. What happened today was that we shot ourselves. What remains to be seen is whether we shot ourselves in the head, the foot or the gut. My guess is the latter because unless we either reverse the decision or the EU itself collapses the UK is likely to suffer a long and lingering death both from Scottish and possibly Northern Irish independence as well as internal political conflicts in England and Wales. The latter is because leaving the EU is unlikely to fix any of the issues most of those who voted for it would like to see fixed and the 48% who voted against it are being utterly ignored in pursuit of a "hard" Brexit. This is a self-inflicted existential crisis and I see a good chance of it getting very ugly.
Not voting also expresses an opinion, even if it's a lack of opinion or lack of attention or care or anything else.
Those that did not go to a polling station simply voted to follow whatever everyone else decided.