Ashamed to ask as an EU citizen, but did UK have some kind of special founding member privileges or something before? Didn’t think we had that in the EU, only the vote by population size stuff.
That’s what Sweden has been doing yes. However it very much is a “mutual understanding” type situation where Sweden is very attached to the SKE and the EU just doesn’t really want to bother due to the situation being low-stakes high-friction. The UK also fits all criteria for “must use the Euro”, but would not benefit from the same “mutual understanding” that Sweden does because the stakes for the Euro would actually be very large. It is quite unlikely that the EU would just bend the rules and let the UK keep their own currency this time. It is also quite unlikely that the British public would even come close to accepting the Euro.
Regardless of your position on the matter, remember that Brexit negotiations completely broke down multiple times over much, much simpler and lower-stakes questions. The British Ego is at least as large as the French’s, and if four years of Brexit should have taught us anything it’s that they have extremely unrealistic expectations and actually think that the EU should bend over backwards to have them back.
We do, and Ireland, Denmark and Poland have gotten opt-outs, too (link). The United Kingdom, however, was so extreme about it, that Wikipedia dedicated an entire article just to their opt-outs.
The UK was no founding member of the EU by choice, if I remember correctly. And later on, they only joined due to the financial prospects, not the underlying idea(ls). They always acted as though they were special when they were part of the union (see aforementioned opt-outs) and completely lost it during the Brexit negotiations, when they acted as though they had some sort of leverage over the entire EU. I quite like CGP Grey’s video on the topic: youtube.com
In my opinion, the French were right when they didn’t want the British to join the union; most of their initial reservations did come true, after all. So, if the UK rejoined the common market without joining the EU, like Norway, for example, that would be fine by me. But no more.
As long as the British do not change their overall stance to the EU much more (and come to terms with their non-specialness), anyway.
Ashamed to ask as an EU citizen, but did UK have some kind of special founding member privileges or something before? Didn’t think we had that in the EU, only the vote by population size stuff.
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I believe some other countries also keep their currency.
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I think the other countries can effectively kick the can down the road for as long as needed. you do know your onions though.
That’s what Sweden has been doing yes. However it very much is a “mutual understanding” type situation where Sweden is very attached to the SKE and the EU just doesn’t really want to bother due to the situation being low-stakes high-friction. The UK also fits all criteria for “must use the Euro”, but would not benefit from the same “mutual understanding” that Sweden does because the stakes for the Euro would actually be very large. It is quite unlikely that the EU would just bend the rules and let the UK keep their own currency this time. It is also quite unlikely that the British public would even come close to accepting the Euro.
Regardless of your position on the matter, remember that Brexit negotiations completely broke down multiple times over much, much simpler and lower-stakes questions. The British Ego is at least as large as the French’s, and if four years of Brexit should have taught us anything it’s that they have extremely unrealistic expectations and actually think that the EU should bend over backwards to have them back.
What I do consider possible though is a compromise that will introduce national backsides on Euro notes so they can have the King’s mug on it.
I think that accepting the euro would also be a way to ensure that the UK is locked in more
But great analysis
We do, and Ireland, Denmark and Poland have gotten opt-outs, too (link). The United Kingdom, however, was so extreme about it, that Wikipedia dedicated an entire article just to their opt-outs.
The UK was no founding member of the EU by choice, if I remember correctly. And later on, they only joined due to the financial prospects, not the underlying idea(ls). They always acted as though they were special when they were part of the union (see aforementioned opt-outs) and completely lost it during the Brexit negotiations, when they acted as though they had some sort of leverage over the entire EU. I quite like CGP Grey’s video on the topic: youtube.com
In my opinion, the French were right when they didn’t want the British to join the union; most of their initial reservations did come true, after all. So, if the UK rejoined the common market without joining the EU, like Norway, for example, that would be fine by me. But no more.
As long as the British do not change their overall stance to the EU much more (and come to terms with their non-specialness), anyway.
The UK wasn’t a founding member.
A major point the others fail to mention is that they got a special discount on their contributions to the EU Budget.