The UK could quite possibly have had a million or two Turkish people coming in, with no way of controlling it.
— Punshhh
Could you explain why that's problematic? Is it a problem with resources to accommodate the immigrants? — frank
Its problematic because, certainly in my area, a lot of people think the amount of incomers has reached saturation point.* There is some impact of resources, but this is not the main beef. In other areas such as the north of England and the south west, where lots of people have become right wing populists fuelled by the notion of foriegners coming in, even though there are none in their area, or ghettoisation and division of immigrant populations that arrived a generation ago.Could you explain why that's problematic? Is it a problem with resources to accommodate the immigrants
Then the inevitable leaving of the UK was a fait accompli from a much earlier point in the development of the EU. Not only in regards to free movement, but in regards of other unifications on the cards.↪Punshhh While I agree there are consequences to how the EU operates resulting from the way it is constituted I would resist the notion that flexibility is a goal in and of itself. I'm not a proponent of an EU à-la-carte, which would be optimal flexibility. In fact, I think it would be disastrous. That Cameron didn't get what he wanted was necessary to ensure no precedent was created.
The point is that the EU appears blind to the demographic consequences of its expansion. — Punshhh
the EU appears blind to the consequences of expansion is far more accurate. It is a political vision to have the entirety of continental Europe included in the EU but it's a vision that's not shared by the EU27 electorate. — Benkei
[my bolds]SUMMARY
The results of the European Parliament election confront EU leaders with a considerable challenge: navigating a new, more fragmented, and polarised political environment.
This was a ‘split screen’ election: electors rarely used their vote to endorse the status quo, but they requested different things. Some want to take on climate change and nationalism; others want to regain national sovereignty and tackle Islamic radicalism.
This need not mean a ‘split screen’ Europe: the desire for change is real across the board, and the new EU institutions will need to provide answers for voters on these issues.
To meet this challenge, the larger political families should prepare to work with parties beyond the mainstream, some of which became stronger on the domestic political scene thanks to the election results. They must do this while preserving red lines on European values.
The high turnout in the election gives the EU a mandate to prove it can respond to voters’ concerns. But this mandate is not open-ended – volatility in the electorate could benefit anti-system parties much more the next time Europe goes to the polls.
...This report studies five ‘maps’ which should guide the formation of these new, shifting majorities; the next generation of EU institution leaders should also study these maps carefully to help them identify where best to focus their energy and attention...
This analogy doesn't work. — Benkei
A divided vision. How to manage ?
It is not the case that the EU is blind to the problems of expansion. The problem might be that some people can make such blind assumptions and run with them.
The trouble is when the anti-EU brigade, like Farage, start to demean and destroy the EU from within its system.That is what I don't get. It troubles me. — Amity
Its problematic because, certainly in my area, a lot of people think the amount of incomers has reached saturation point. — Punshhh
I think we are still basically the same people as we ever were, British. — iolo
EU leaders have given Boris Johnson an ultimatum to come up with a new Brexit plan by the end of September or face up to a no deal.
The deadline, agreed at a meeting in Paris on Wednesday evening, comes as the bloc’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier told Mr Johnson to stop “pretending” to negotiate. ...
“If the UK wants to discuss alternatives to the existing Brexit agreement then these must be presented before the end of the month,” Mr Rinne [Finland's PM] told reporters after the meeting in which the deadline was agreed.
Also shows up Johnson's empty threat of no-deal to gain traction in negotiations - the Europeans have called his bluff. — Wayfarer
Im looking forward to the intervention of John Major tomorrow. — Punshhh
What's really amazing is that BJ's popularity (in the UK, and more so in the conservative base) seems to be going up in all this. — boethius
Just like the Romans called one place Germania. Copied in the similar way. Yet Modern Germany and 'the Germans' is even a younger thing than the talk about the British. I assure you that during Roman times there weren't Germans as we know now living there. There is a difference between 'the Germans' and 'Germanic tribes'.Britannia was the name of the Country when it was part of the Roman Empire. There must surely have been some reason, like being British? — iolo
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