4 ms·
at least "What is the European Union?" when voting for brexit would be enough.
by alexee 9y ago
at least "What is the European Union?" when voting for brexit would be enough.
- makomk 9y agoThat's a good (and presumably unintentional) demonstration of the problem - the European Union is a hugely complex, very political beast and the right answer to that question depends heavily on your political frame of reference and priorities. Even just the free trade-related aspects can be accurately described either as giving up control of our own laws and regulations to a centralized bureaucracy or enabling trade by removing non-tariff barriers depending on how you want to frame them - since almost all non-tariff barriers other than differences in regulations are banned by WTO rules they're the same thing, one description just emphasises the benefits and the other the downsides. (I've even seen a certain FT writer who insists he's not pro-EU use both framings - the positive one when discussing the EU and the negative one when discussing post-Brexit trade deals outside the EU.)