Titanic paper from @andrewduffeu.bsky.social, which I missed at the time
While there may be some stuff to quibble about, and some of this will be hard reading for Europeans, as well as for some in the UK, as a whole this is what needs to be said.
This should be the focus for join.
A reaction 🧵
While there may be some stuff to quibble about, and some of this will be hard reading for Europeans, as well as for some in the UK, as a whole this is what needs to be said.
This should be the focus for join.
A reaction 🧵
Comments
UK pols should have the confidence to say this and to believe that the UK can compete in a real free-trade environment like Europe.
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Andrew is clear in this paper, the UK has to be all-in or not at all.
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there is no alternative for the UK than Europe in some form;
and integration is going to happen anyhow, on security, standards, climate change, AI, etc., with or without the UK.
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There will be nothing at all unless the UK can honour its current agreements and move away from the May-Starmer redlines (Best for Britain, take note)
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The Single Market was largely a british design. The british really drove that initiative.
The UK ended up with a swathe of major optouts from EU projects like Schengen, Euro etc.
Post Suez, britains standing was very tarnished and scandals emanating from NI (Bloody Sunday) and the treatment of Kenyans piled on the opposite of prestige.
Economically, the UK joined in the 1970s as "the sick man of Europe".
It was in a much stronger position vis-à-vis the union that today is the overall point I'm making.
They joined, really got involved and thrived, becoming a significant international player again.
But that was a weakness the other members had experienced very recently, so it was of a quite different kind than at The Great East Enlargement (or the Greek admission 8 years later or Portugal & Spain in -86?).
(I folliwed the debate in Denmark closely at the time.)
@theneweuropean.bsky.social
He was a Gaelgoir and Republican (Kevin St).
@markpurch.bsky.social
If you have a problem, then you need to change the UK, not expect Europe to change for you.
1. Move to Spain legally
If that's impossible
2. Convince your fellow countrymen to vote for parties that want to improve things
Greetings from Barcelona!
…where popular opinion increasingly opposes rich "visitors" paying high rents, outcompeting the locals.
It's not the EU's job to fix the self harm brexit caused.
90/180 works very well…for the EU.
It works for my wife.
😇
Did you have a look at Andrew's paper? It's interesting, isn't it?
When you're a third-country citizen, you are registered as resident, or you're not.
There are no invented statuses. They're no such thing as a part-year resident.
What you feel is irrelevant, only what you have registered.
Whether you own a house, stay in a hotel, Airbnb, camping…it doesn’t matter still a tourist.
3rd country tourists are generously offered 90/180. That is more than sufficient for the vast majority. People that wants more
Tax or language won’t be issue.
If you spend < 6 months in one country but > 6 in Schengen zone you’re not likely to find a visa to cover that.
Even EU citizens have to register for residency in Spain if they want to stay more than 90 days.
No reason whatsoever for us to grant 3rd country citizens something we don’t even have ourselves.
90/180 is very generous for tourists.
FoM was the greatest thing we ever had, and Starmer doesn't want to return it.
For that, I'll never vote Labour again.
I wouldn't have, either. Their wobbly course is discouraging.
But FPTP leads to problems. After 2002, I would never have voted Labour again. After 2010, I would never have voted LD again. After 2019, I would never have voted for the Tories again.
Who is left?
Remember - every single vote counts as it improves financial position of the the party via the Short Money allocation:
https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn01663/
The Tories even celebrated when it ended (for UK citizens)…and Labour seems allergic to it too.
They don’t even dare to go near a youth mobility scheme even though it has nothing to do with FoM.
FoM is a great thing. Making a continent (most of it) available to everyone…
A source of pride to the EU that this has become possible.
Why FoM has been singled out like that by different UKGs I will probably never fully understand.
No chance! 😂
He hates Brits wanting more mobility in Europe. He’ll just try to diminish your problems and family life and file them under “holidays”.
Probably just resentful.
Especially if you have a nice home and life in Spain.
We were proud of it (before it sank 😉)
More of this. I almost found myself applauding at points.
The anti-Europe media is the biggest roadblock in the way
His clothes are loud, but never square
It will make or break him so he's got to buy the best
'Cos he's a dedicated follower of fashion
...
In Regent Street and Leicester Square
Everywhere the Carnabetian army marches on
Each one a dedicated follower of fashion
Many thanks Andrew😊
-If UK want to rejoin, we should ask to shift to a modern proportional representation election, as FPTP are too vulnerable (UK & Fr).
-UK should have free plural media, as JB owning WP is not ideal. Eg not 80% controlled by Rupert Murdoch & his oligarch buddies.
But the media are an issue.
This below may be just one council ward, but it's a similar situation across the country.
https://bsky.app/profile/greenelects.world/post/3lja6mzbgss2s
Labours win, was not due to popularity but to dissatisfaction with the Tories...
Will the UK follow to some degree?
If UK does not fix itself, why should EU bother if UK want to rejoin?
But we have an interest in a large neighbour being stable, so we should encourage that where possible.
What happens in the US now also change that dynamic.
When likely UK rejoin, that will also be remembered.
It must do the opposite now.
Gaining absolute power on 34% of the vote, next time it might take even less, is not worthy of the label stable democracy as mentioned in the Copenhagen criteria.
But currently the upper house has no blocking power, is appointed or hereditary and is therefore not democratic at all.
But the US is the same, and it has been unable to fix itself and now...
One thing is a trade, where it not so critical, but goingforward, its security & def, & EU learns from Brexit & Orban. We need to protect our union. Also from France at some point, but different as they are in.
As you know the EU has no expulsion clause. Meaning that once on the inside it is sadly possible to disregard the rules as Hungary has clearly shown.
The only thing we should insist on when it comes
It is fully up to the UK to decide which system they want to use….the current system should just lead to them remaining on the outside. FPTP is only one of many issues.
FPTP and PR have both problems, and advantages.
Confronting with Brexitism is far more important and urgent.
Fix the root-cause because why should the EU let the UK in again, if the UK has not fixed what drove to Brexit in the first place.
1. Closely tie MP to constituency, yes compared to a "list" system but not at all compared to a PR-STV with multi-seat constituency.
2.Single party Government (How's that worked out?)
3. Simplicity, any idiot can count FPTP.
None of the above are great tbh
The choice to have a system that allows for an elected candidate to gain a seat on a minority of the votes?
Or indeed a government is flawed
At a bare minimum, a 50% +1 to ensure a majority is represented rather FPTP is needed.
In reality all their major political parties needs to be 100% pro EU before we can let them in, regardless of the system used.
It will be up to the UK to prove reliability, and that reform would help a lot.
However, in the Art.49 process EU-governments can insist on whatever they consider important.
For a real life example: Turkey's and Hungary's veto against Finland's and Sweden's NATO-membership
The UK is neither.
No one would ever be able to trust a UK where you can win absolute power on 34% of the vote and like even less now where you have 3 parties of equal size.
Vetting applicants have never been more important. That
FPTP is only one of many issues when it comes to democracy in the UK.
can I add that NI should leave the UK to rejoin the EU with Ireland and thr russian report is published, fully redacted?
That might ease some concerns amongst EU27 with how cosy prominent politicians are with pals of putin.
But this will be the same issue for the next PM and every future PM.
From European perspective, I agree with most, but don't agree with the associate membership and multiple tiers of membership. That would make the EU much more complex instead of streamlining it and simplifying it.
The current challenge is its complexity.
The only people who want this seem to be some thinkers in Paris.
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Ends
We need the Brits back for making things simpler!
But compared to the Labour government's messaging and "everything else" one reads, it was really not much.
So Andrew sailed up to a leading position on my list of idols, just behind Mike Galsworthy.
😄
So refreshing to see such clear and uncompromising sense being spoken.