The other caveat with the deal is that if it turns out to be fine, it makes no sense that other net contributors would stay in the Union. It might refuel euroscepticism in net contributor member states.
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I thought about this but I don’t think any of the member states that actually have enough eurosceptic views have enough clout to survive without the EU. Like Poland and Hungary are barely making it. Italy is now the EUs bitch after they take the money to help them. I think that’s why the EU will bail out countries like Italy, make sure they own them.
The UK isn’t the nation it was once, but still big enough of an economic and political player in the game.
I am not referring to Poland and Hungary. Those countries are very pro-EU as they are the main beneficiaries. Their far right politicians are only against certain EU values like LGBT rights and migration. I was referring to the likes of the frugal, wealthy countries like the Netherlands, Austria, Denmark etc. They were already unhappy with the COVID relief scheme as it was basically free handouts. If Britain suffers no real negatives from Brexit, what’s the point of staying in the EU when they never needed it in the first place, and are asked to pay for the poor member states all the time?
I doubt they would actually leave the Union as some of them are in the Eurozone, but it would be even harder to expect contribution from these countries.
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Republic of Ireland , how are Sligo, Donegal, Louth and Cavan ‘Southern Ireland’?
Nope. They got a hard Brexit. That means out of single market and customs union. For many other countries that would be even worse as they are even more integrated, Euro, many shared borders etc.
Netherlands would be in a very shit position out of the EU for instance. They are very highly dependent on trade and transport industry and a huge beneficiary of EU membership, even more investment moving there from UK recently . Plus they are in the Eurozone.
But they got zero tariffs. Basically, the issue here is that if Britain was able to drag the negotiation till the very last minute and got what they wanted, the other countries can, too. They can negotiate to keep the elements they like and give up a few irrelevant programmes like Erasmus … as long as they drag it till the 11th hour.
Some of them don’t use the euro (Denmark and Sweden), and Switzerland borders 4 EU member states and is doing better than all 4.
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For goods only. But they still have customs checks!
You think mainland Europeans want customs checks on trucks and cars going through their borders again? Not a chance.
What about shipping food across borders ? Look at a map of Europe you can figure out the problem.
Also no service agreement is the hard brexit part which is 80% of business now. Meaning Ireland and Netherlands will boom from this while UK gets an economic hit.
That actually is true. I wonder how that is going to pan out.
I thought it was chips and curry?
3 years and they will crying into their French Onion soup and Irish stew.
Saying that bottled Guinness makes the best stew stock going.
Well, I’d certainly like to see a direct vote for U.S. president
Biden: 81,381,502.
Trump: 74,222.593.
They’ll get to keep the haddock, for Fish 'n Chips, the EU keeps the flounder and herring.
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Yum! Fry the onions on a pan with butter first carmelizing but not burning, then pour in the water
Bit long winded but he makes some good points here
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Who gets the Cod?
No they won’t the EU will get hit, there is too much POWER in the City of London.
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Iceland?
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I think it’s become clear the London will stay as the financial hub of Europe despite the EU trying to steal it over. No one in the industry seems to think this will change anytime soon.
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I think it was more like ‘wanting to not leave’ more so than ‘stealing’
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The focus magically moved from Ireland to fish, which is great. Next step need to get everyone playing 
no doubt there will be brave souls who doubt the utility of the groin guard, and those will be lessons learned. 
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