4 ms·
the EU cannot strive for the closest relationship possible because that would encourage other countries to leave. There must be a price, an ongoing cost. I don
by mdekkers 10y ago
the EU cannot strive for the closest relationship possible because that would encourage other countries to leave. There must be a price, an ongoing cost.
I don't understand why this wasn't a centerpiece of the Remain campaign.
- taejo 10y agoBecause it makes the EU look evil, and remaining looks like submitting to bullies.
- barrkel 10y agoThe EU is a protectionist island in a global economy filled with large ambivalent actors. It's less evil, more like self-preservation, or an immune system. There has to be surface tension to retain mass, and there has to be barriers because that's it's raison d'etre.
- taejo 10y agoI understand the game theory, but I think politically, it would be easy to spin this as the EU being a bully who punishes you if you don't play with them, and many voters would prefer to tell such a bully to bugger off than to play along (indeed, a lot of the Leave campaign was already about how Brussels bullies Brits into doing things they don't want).
- Nursie 10y agoTo echo the other poster - because it looks like the actions of an empire-building bully. It looks like spite.
- TheCondor 10y agoBecause, as it was also seen in the US election, it wasn't possible for them to win. It will be interesting to watch, nothing has been negotiated, that's the irony, nobody even knows what they voted for. I can't imagine Europe making it easy though.
- taejo 10y agoI don't see how it was impossible for Remain to win. There was <4% margin; different turnout demographics could have swung it. I can imagine holding it a week earlier or later could have led to a different result.