UK should rejoin EU to ‘fix’ Brexit, says Ursula von der Leyen
UK should rejoin EU to ‘fix’ Brexit, says Ursula von der Leyen
European Commission president says she tells her children ‘we goofed it up’ when discussing UK’s departure from EU
It’s not going to happen any time soon. The Overton Window in the UK has slid so far that it is now accepted (by both major parties and the mainstream media) that joining the EU in the first place was a historic mistake, and even as expectations of Brexit dividends have made way for the reality of massive economic damage, the narrative has shifted to this being a necessary price to pay for correcting this mistake and retaking our historic destiny as the Mighty Lion-Race Of Albion or whatever bollocks. The idea that the UK should be in the EU is as much on the lunatic fringe as the idea that it should leave was a decade ago. Maybe in another decade’s time, once the humiliation has truly sunk in, Britain’s constituent nations will rejoin one by one, at that time happy to adopt the Euro, metric beer glasses and driving on the right if that’s what it takes.
It's worth saying that both major parties are way out of line with the electorate on this - polling of whom shows:
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there were consistent majorities for Remain from about mid-2017 until Brexit happened; and
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there has been a consistent polling plurality for Rejoin pretty much since that point onwards (and sometimes outright polling majorities for Rejoin).
So neither of those parties are currently speaking for a large (and possibly majority) share of the electorate on this issue. When such situations arise, it's rare for the electorate to be the ones who have to change their mind and accord with what the politicians think...
What I expect will happen in the coming years (particularly after Labour go into government next year) is that the Lib Dems will get increasingly bolshy on this issue and probably build towards announcing a Rejoin manifesto in the run up to the 2028/9 general election, and Labour will start bleeding votes to them. That will force Labour to shift its position (in the same way they shifted their position on a People's Vote after the Lib Dems trounced them in Labour strongholds at the 2019 EU elections).
By the end of this decade, Rejoin will be a very mainstream position among British politicians in the way it already is with British voters.
By the end of this decade, Rejoin will be a very mainstream position among British politicians in the way it already is with British voters.
Still, that means it is probably not going to happen until the last years of the following decade at the earliest and that is if a significant effort is made to reduce the gap on standards and regulations introduced in the last few years.
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And they had the best deal in the entire EU.
Morons, all those Exit voters. Utter morons,.
Less than a quarter of the people voted though so the real morons are the people who didn't vote at all.
I take exception to lion-race of albion. While to my knowledge not a real thing very Scottish. And we voted overwhelmingly to remain.
I'm sorry, what? This doesn't reflect my experience at all. Source, pls?
Or, to write it in British: bollocks, mate.
Edit: other than "it's not going to happen soon", of course.
I think you read too much of the daily mail. They know it's an absolute economic catastrophe so they're trying to rephrase the question to be something about national pride. The trouble is being prideful of your country actually requires your country to not be a complete dump.
I do not think it is going to happen. UK is to prideful to join as a normal member and they wont get their privileges back.
As a UK citizen which voted to remain. We can't go back, it's not worth the headache. Our politicians are incapable of anything as complicated as rejoining, we are a shambles.
I would rather stay out
Understandable. I am a little sad for myself as i never visited UK while it was part of the EU. Time to renew my passport.
Brenter
Brejoin
Breunification
Brentrance
Come in it's right there
European Commission president says she tells her children ‘we goofed it up’ when discussing UK’s departure from EU.
The United Kingdom should rejoin the European Union to “fix” Brexit, Ursula von der Leyen has said, after Labour pledged to forge closer ties with the bloc if elected.
The European Commission president said “we goofed it up” when asked if Britain could ever reverse Brexit on Tuesday night in Brussels.
She was speaking amid much improved UK relations since the signing of Rishi Sunak’s new Brexit deal for Northern Ireland in February and after the shock victory of Geert Wilders, who wants the Netherlands to leave the EU, in Dutch elections last week.
“First of all, thank God, with the Windsor agreement, we had a new beginning for old friends. Very important,” Mrs von der Leyen said at an event hosted by the Politico website.
“And then I must say, I keep telling my children, you have to fix it. We goofed it up. You have to fix it. So I think here, too, the direction of travel, my personal opinion is clear.”
There is no expectation that the UK will ask to rejoin the EU anytime soon, which is a lengthy and complex process that can take many years.
But Sir Keir Starmer has promised a major rewrite of the post-Brexit trading relationship if Labour wins a general election, which is expected to be held next year.
EU will enforce Brussels rules on UK Labour insists Britain won’t be a “rule taker” if it negotiates a new deal.
But the EU will demand the UK align with Brussels rules in return for an agreement on animal and plant health standards.
That veterinary deal would remove red tape on British trade with the EU and Northern Ireland but was rejected by the Tories on sovereignty grounds.
Mr Sunak moved to repair strained relations with the EU after he became Prime Minister in October 2022.
He calculated that a closer relationship was necessary for economic reasons during the cost of living crisis and for geopolitical reasons after Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
The UK and EU were at loggerheads over the Irish Sea border until the Windsor Framework was agreed, which calmed tension that led to threats of a trade war.
Since then, Brussels has approved UK post-Brexit participation of Horizon, its flagship research programme, and its Copernicus space programme.
DUP negotiations in ‘final, final stages’ Mr Sunak, a Brexiteer, is regarded with suspicion by some Tory backbenchers, who fear he will sacrifice sovereignty which was hard won in the tough Brexit negotiations.
His Windsor Framework deal did not convince the DUP to drop their boycott of Stormont, which has now lasted 21 months and delayed action on the economy and healthcare.
Negotiations between the DUP and the Government were now in their “final, final stages”, Chris Heaton-Harris, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, said on Tuesday night.
David Jones, a former Cabinet minister, said: “Mrs von der Leyen should understand that the British people are not children. They are grownups who decided to exercise their treaty right to leave the EU.
“She should also consider why so many member states are unhappy about the continued acquisition powers by Brussels at their expense.”
Mark Francois, chairman of the European Research Group of Eurosceptic Tory MPs, said Mrs von der Leyen needed to “come to terms with Brexit”.
“If Ursula von der Leyen thinks the UK is going to rejoin the creaking EU she can go whistle Ode to Joy,” he said referring to the EU’s anthem.
“And then I must say, I keep telling my children, you have to fix it. We goofed it up. You have to fix it."
no pressure, kids!
They can’t rejoin, can they? I thought the EU specifically wrote language making it impossible/ quite difficult for them to rejoin just to make sure they weren’t going to be the cat at the sliding door
I think they can, but not for the conditions they used to be. And UK was immensly privileged as EU member.
Yes. We had it so good. I voted Remain because I had no idea of the true implications of leaving. However, I wouldn’t knee-jerk vote Rejoin, because I have no idea of the full implications of that. Unless the choice was “rejoin with the exact same conditions we had before”, I’d have to do an awful lot of reading.
Because, unlike the politicians who want to fit complex socioeconomic policies into a tweet, reality is much more complicated than that. And I’m not putting my vote to something I don’t understand. That’s not socially responsible.
No, they can rejoin. They just need to take the same route any new applicant needs to take.
Can't rejoin, but can reapply for membership. There will be negotiations on the terms and every single member in the EU will have to agree to taking the UK back under those terms. The EU doesn't hold a grudge as such, but certain members might. France rejected the UK twice in the 70ies for example, and only after deGaulle left were they admitted.
They can apply for membership just like any other non-member and will be alowed in if they comply with with all the rules (which they don't) and if and only if all other members agree (all existing members have a veto right on taking in a new member).
If they start now and assuming they solved their Rule Of Law issues (all those anti-human rights measures and legislation will have to go, I'm afraid) and adopt the euro, it will take maybe 20 year or so as long as they give up Gibraltar so that Spain does not veto their membership approval.
They have to take the door on the right this time.
Alright I've got a bet,
What comes first, European Federal State of any form, or UK integration back into the EU in some form?
As someone wholly distanced from this, I see the former as nigh impossible and the latter as common sense that may just take a while for the Brits to get around to. How far off am I?
Any sort of EU federal state I would agree is nigh impossible - as it stands currently there is some lack of overlap on freedom of movement without border checks (the Schengen area) and currency adoption (all members except Denmark are obligated to adopt the Euro at some point in time, but Sweden at least doesn't seem to have any real intention of doing so) within EU member states.
On top of that, 'muh freedumb, they want to take away our right to self-govern' is used as a very efficient talking point for nationalist parties in all EU member states to shift public opinion against the EU (some possibly due to propaganda, others due to homegrown ideology). Any decision of importance within the EU has to be unanimous, so pretty sure there will be at least one state vetoing any motion to become a federal state.
Maybe once world peace is achieved, there can be an EU federal state, though even then I'd be skeptical.
For any brexit reversal, I understand the main issue would be that as a founding member, the UK had some perks (opt out of Schengen and the Euro) that would no longer be on the table for a new arrival. And there's the matter of breach of trust for already leaving once and causing major headaches.
uk will demand veto power to come in, the eu demands total uk integration into the eu.
the veto stuff is being worked out because of orban stopping eu help to ukraine because he is a butcher and doesn't care people die just so he can keep power.
so yeah only when the uk is pretty desperate will they give up veto power. so faster federalization than uk coming back home.
Oh my god. I just realised the connection between federal and federated.
Permanently Deleted
We should have only been allowed to leave if 3/4 voted to leave. Man I hate politics and the British public (Brit here)
How about a round 3, Jerry
"He calculated that a closer relationship was necessary for economic reasons"
Bwahahaha! Did he! Did he calculate that?! Ahhhhh fucking hell.
He calculated that it would be better not to be up shit creek without a goddamned paddle.
I read the headline as The US needs to reenter the EU, and got confused.
No. :)