The second-largest member of a political economic bloc has just left the bloc

[SouthDownsLass]

Gosh.

Who?
What?
When?
Where?

The UK left the EU on 31st January so you must be talking about another country

Well, came back and slammed the door.

You're 11 months late.

Are you usually this punctual with your threads?

Brexiter time keeping is different. It goes backwards, so we are now in 1955.

Oh god OK, the second largest member of a political economic bloc has just finished the TRANSITION PERIOD and left the bloc.

I hadn't thought of it in those terms before - because we were endlessly being told that the UK was such a minor member of the EU and not important in any way - we were the second largest member. And we left.

And yet nobody seems to think that's a failing of the EU

And now instead of a significant player in the EU, the UK is a small fish in a tank of sharks. Lovely.

Ok - so serious reply.

I'm not surprised to see this topic appearing here because social media has been awash with people regretting the lack of soul-searching in the EU.

Well, it's fair to say that most of the serious EU press haven't been doing any soul searching in English .... but they have been doing it in French, German and probably other languages too.

For example, here is a Le Monde take on what Brexit means for the EU - the headline means "Europe is getting better"

https://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2020/12/31/luuk-van-middelaar-l-europe-va-mieux60649222_3210.html

"le Brexit n’a pas fait d’émules parmi les Etats de l’UE. Selon lui, les Vingt-sept, par leur fermeté, ont même gagné en crédibilité."

[Brexit didn't have any imitators among EU member states. The 27 even gained in credibility by being intransigent]

Other discussion is more triumphalist, especially in France, which has its eyes firmly set on market share gains in financial services & battery electric vehicles.

You might want the EU to be trembling in its boots but it's not. The second largest member of the single market has gone, and now the remaining 27 are jockeying to take the UK's market share.

@Andromache77

And now instead of a significant player in the EU, the UK is a small fish in a tank of sharks. Lovely.

We're not a small fish. We're the fifth largest economy in the world

@Mistigri

Ok - so serious reply.

I'm not surprised to see this topic appearing here because social media has been awash with people regretting the lack of soul-searching in the EU.

Well, it's fair to say that most of the serious EU press haven't been doing any soul searching in English .... but they have been doing it in French, German and probably other languages too.

For example, here is a Le Monde take on what Brexit means for the EU - the headline means "Europe is getting better"

[[https://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2020/12/31/luuk-van-middelaar-l-europe-va-mieux]]60649222_3210.html

"le Brexit n’a pas fait d’émules parmi les Etats de l’UE. Selon lui, les Vingt-sept, par leur fermeté, ont même gagné en crédibilité."

[Brexit didn't have any imitators among EU member states. The 27 even gained in credibility by being intransigent]

Other discussion is more triumphalist, especially in France, which has its eyes firmly set on market share gains in financial services & battery electric vehicles.

You might want the EU to be trembling in its boots but it's not. The second largest member of the single market has gone, and now the remaining 27 are jockeying to take the UK's market share.

I don't "want" anything. I was just reflecting on what a seismic thing has happened to the EU.

I am sure the spin is that it has made the EU stronger. And yes, with one external (ie us) focus, they did stick together. But, as the beginning of the pandemic showed us, they're quick enough to shut borders to other EU countries and snaffle up all the PPE they can get for themselves (individual countries were, I mean).

When it comes to the ongoing taxation issues, the countries holding out (mostly Ireland) are going to feel a very chill wind...

OP, you seem to be missing a key point of the EU, it trades collectively with the world, so it doesn't matter if you are the largest or smallest within it, you enjoy the same deal.
The EU is the second largest economy in the world, just behind USA. We've just joined the 2nd division with the likes of India, Brazil, Canada, Russia etc.

Time will tell .... 🤗

lack of soul-searching in the EU

How much soul-searching do you expect other EU countries to do?

The attitude of almost every continental comment I have seen is along the lines of “well that’s a bloody stupid thing to do, but it’s up to them if they want to make their lives harder”. There is not much more to be said.

@Ifailed

OP, you seem to be missing a key point of the EU, it trades collectively with the world, so it doesn't matter if you are the largest or smallest within it, you enjoy the same deal. The EU is the second largest economy in the world, just behind USA. We've just joined the 2nd division with the likes of India, Brazil, Canada, Russia etc.

They threw away about a third of their income. Very short sighted.

Still, I'm sure the EU will prosper without us, just as we will prosper without them

They threw away about a third of their income

Weird comment. Do you think the EU will stop trading with the U.K.? Seriously?

because we were endlessly being told that the UK was such a minor member of the EU and not important in any way

As far as i can see this is what the leave party were saying

That we had no control and the EU was making us do stuff and we had no say with laws etc

My dad texted ‘happy new year and freedom from the EU’ today, and i dont get it, we’ve always been free

@Mistigri

They threw away about a third of their income

Weird comment. Do you think the EU will stop trading with the U.K.? Seriously?

I think the OP meant that the EU threw away about a third of its income i.e. the UK's contribution to the EU budget.

In fact, the UK was the third or fourth largest net contributor (depending on what year you look at), but between 2014 and 2017 contributed 13% of the EU budget annually, so nowhere near one third or 33%.

The budget of the EU as an institution has been impacted by the departure of the UK

The budgets of the countries that make up the EU
much less

Ifailed - Why on earth would being the 5th largest economy in the World make us second division?

? U.K. was the third largest member of the EU behind Germany and France.

And 4th largest contributor of money to EU....

@Corcory

Ifailed - Why on earth would being the 5th largest economy in the World make us second division?

Well, no longer 5th largest economy. Now 6th largest behind US, China, Japan, Germany and India.

This started today. AfCFTA it will cover a market of 1.2B people & GDP of $2.5T, across the 55 States. It will be the world’s largest free trade area since WTO.

Oh to be part of a free trade area

And yet nobody seems to think that's a failing of the EU

The EU is hardly to blame for the jingoistic, xenophobic attitudes and the over-inflated notions of their own importance prevalent in the UK.