Brexit was about border control, so what ? UK will have to man their side of border too to fend off all the nasty migrants crossing sides and stealing jobs in UK
Nobody says we would maintain 200+ points; UK would also object. it is in the best interest of UK to maintain an open border.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics...ys-verhofstadt
oh, EU waggles the finger already. May will be in Brussels tomorrow and for sure will be told to stick to agreements or GTFO
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UK is adamant about GFA and wants NI threated the same as if merry old England would have been on the other side of the border in question.
To keep their side of promises UK will have to swallow a soft brexit, period. Or they change the stance and shift the actual "out of EU" border into the Irish Sea and tell DUP to shut up.
Apologies it wasn't services although it was for some type of reform that never really happened, possibly changes to the CAP?
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Who was it that first came up with the phrase 'nothing is agreed until everything is agreed'? Does one side saying this give the other side confidence in phased negotiations?
Yes, either EEA or CETA. Why would you ask if Canada got the same style conditions that Norway had if you didn't want to make the implication that those were similar? They're not. Not even remotely similar.
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Vetos aren't going to be a thing of the past very soon. The core principles and fundamental rules of the EU can still be vetoed.
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Wouldn't a Norway model mean compromising heavily on the sovereignty argument (since access to the single market requires adopting all its rules), and the cost argument (since Norway pays almost as much as the UK does to the EU) so you get almost all the "down sides" of being in the EU but you have no say on EU laws?
Surely that wouldn't satisfy anyone.
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The entire situation has been a complete mess. It's a real shame - since both sides have valid concerns and the focus really should have revolved around compromising and discussing the problems that exist. The European Union has been changing over time and it was originally painted as being solely related to mutually beneficial trade based arrangements. The tipping point for a lot of people losing faith in the EU has been the somewhat overbearing and biased political stances pushed on other countries. The refugee crisis certainly did not help either.
No matter how it turns out it's going to leave a lot of people with a sour taste in their mouths. Sadly it's obvious from some of the replies within this very thread that some people really only care about seeing one side fall even though both bring valid concerns to the table. It's a little more baffling given that some of the posters involved aren't even intimately familiar with either European or British politics but it is what it is I suppose.
It's kind of like the climate change debate - this is actually a complex technical issue that absolutely should not be partisan in any way. It should be something you recruit a panel of experts to make recommendations on, not stir up random people on the street, feed them propaganda and make them think it's something that it isn't.
One of the biggest problems is that politicians can make some very dubious decisions and never be held accountable for their actions. More often than not they can simply resign if things get too heated and gradually fade into obscurity. Most seem to be fairly well off, too - and some even go on to work in a different job that pays them a considerable amount of coin.
I think a lot of the concerns regarding Brexit are very valid and that there are some hard questions that needed to be asked, preferably before deciding to exit the European Union. There was a lot of misinformation flooding in from both sides of the argument - and that's still very true in the present day.