@Walter Hinteler,
Walter Hinteler wrote:
georgeob1 wrote: Punishing the UK for its decision will do nothing to enhance the goals of the EU.
I'm not sure what you mean with "punishing" here, George.
Should the UK be rewarded because they leave? Why should they get a better position than members - be it with the EU or EEA?
I didn't suggest that they ( the UK) get a "better position than members", though I suppose a lot depends on how one defines such an outcome. The EU is a free association of sovereign states, which has over the past two decades expanded its reach and rule through administrative Treaty actions, while learning to avoid democratic processes with their uncertain and, as it turned out, sometimes disappointing consequences. That was an effective strategy for a while but it had some side effects and consequences which are increasingly being felt across the EU, and not just in the UK.
I was perhaps a bit unfair to ebeth, in that she wrote
"Everyone wants to keep the good stuff and not take on any responsibility", which I assumed applied only to the British. But this is a statement which, on the face of it, applies to everyone involved on both sides of the issue. If that's what she meant, then I fully agree.
I believe the EU, with or without the UK needs to resolve issues of ambiguously shared sovereignty and a number of the economic contradictions attendant its increasingly specific authoritarian rule. I fear that, if it fails to do so, we will see more fractures in the union. That would benefit no one.
