Brexit Mega Thread 16 – Who's Next?

[LouiseCollins28]

We are approaching the 6th anniversary of Brexit, or I suppose the 5th, if you count the period of transition as "in."

Since then, the world has endured Covid-19, seen war in Ukraine and many other things. Brexit has had reduced salience in the minds of many people recently.

When digesting the latest setbacks to befall the elite who govern our islands, a phrase I keep returning to, is “OK, so now do you get it?”

Brexit is undoubtedly the biggest “OK, so now do you get it?” moment directed at our leaders in my life. It’s surely the largest since 1979, since the Labour victory of 1945? or even since the advent of universal suffrage?

The U.K. local elections in 2026, and subsequent national ones, could see a big increase in support for the Green Party and Reform U.K. Two parties with more different attitudes to European integration could scarcely be found, so Brexit’s salience in the U.K. may rise again soon
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There are many electoral contests in progress or coming across Europe too (the Netherlands and France, for example) which will be worth paying attention to. Maybe the next questions we will face are less about "what next?" and more about "who's next?"

Relations between mainland Europe and the UK remain a worthy topic for discussion, whoever leads the nations of Europe, or leads the E.U. itself.

It's irrelevant anyway. It's not up to EEmigrant where anyone should be allowed to go. We're only suffering these problems because of it's stupid Brexit.

If the entirety of the UK descended on Faro Airport, I'm pretty sure it wouldn't cope very well...

@DuncinToffee

In 2025, the UK has no way of knowing that his claims were rejected by other EU countries,

Considering that where he came from does not have direct transport to the UK, it’s clear that he either crossed the Mediterranean or the border in Eastern Europe before arriving in Calais.

Point was, UK offered him safety, but the EU did not. So, where does the Brexit is all about racism come from?

I would say the question about why it mostly young men of military age who are arriving in Calais is a fair question. If it’s too dangerous for men, why isn’t it too dangerous for women and children?

Daisy Cooper tried to argue that it’s better for men to arrive first and then families later, but that’s flawed logic. It’s either too dangerous to stay or it isn’t. Also, if it’s safe enough for men to return to where they fled from, why isn’t it safe enough for them to remain and not flee in the first place?

And I said that I am glad he was granted asylum, so we agree?

Maybe you have forgotten that poster Farage stood in front of?

@MaybeNotBob

We're only suffering these problems because of it's stupid Brexit.

Incorrect statement. Schengen and the 90/180 came about in 1985. Biometric passports appeared in 2006. Lots of time to implement biometric checks.

If 27 EU members don’t follow EU directives, whose fault is that?

Considering how popular, Paris and the Southern coast of Spain, are for tourists I would have thought they would be the first to be up to speed.

Many companies in the finance or media industries stipulate that hybrid work is limited to the employee's fiscal residence. There are a couple of large banks who enforce IP tracking so you can't just take your laptop with you and log into the server.

You keep repeating this nonsense, even though you have been repeatedly shown that it would not affect us if we were in the EU.

You are either deliberately lying, or incredibly stupid.

Which is it?

This is not necessarily an either/or question.

The UK has officially signed up to rejoin the EU’s Erasmus+ scheme from 2027 👏

And just for fun, a Daily Mail poll

@MaybeNotBob

You keep repeating this nonsense, even though you have been repeatedly shown that it would not affect us if we were in the EU.

So, being in the EU guarantees:

All flights destined for the EU will leave on time and arrive at their destination on time, and

Weather does not affect the EU and there will never be queues due to multiple flights arriving at the same time as was the case in the Portugal article.

I first used the fingerprint scanners in Iraq in 2012. So, it’s not a new technology. Index fingers were placed on the scanner and the photo was taken whilst the person in the cubicle simultaneously checked and scanned the passport. So, there was no additional time taken by the introduction of the fingerprint scanner and face recognition photo.

If Portugal and Sweden can follow the EU directive that the Travel to Europe app had to be up to speed by April 2026, why couldn’t the other 25 members do the same?

@DuncinToffee

I thought the remain theory was that only low IQ persons read the daily mail.

As for Erasmus, there were between 15,000 and 18,000 student from the UK that took part in 2019. That’s between 0.75 and 0.9% of the total student population. So, that means 99+% of all UK students are not interested.

@EEexpat Did you miss the 'just for fun' bit?

As for how many students are interested, at least they once again have the choice and opportunity.

The choice and opportunity you took away

No, as previously stated, ad infinitum, being in the EU means that we can use the biometric "EU Only" paths which mean that you don't have to queue for the one open gate with a border guard.

I know you're desperately trying to twist things to fit your agenda, but try being honest for once in your life...

@DuncinToffee

If Erasmus is great, why is there such a low number of students taking part? 0.75% to 0.9% is tiny. So, what’s so great about reintroducing something that 99+% were not interested in when they did have the choice?

For information, I was not one of the 498 MPs who voted to trigger article 50 on 29 March 2017.

@MaybeNotBob

When I was last in the Netherlands there were four non EU channels and one EU channel at the terminal I arrived. In Paris and Berlin the number of non EU channels was even greater.

Makes sense as EU makes up less than 5% of world population. So, there needs to be more passport channels for non EU than EU within the EU. So, which airports have you used where there are fewer non EU than EU channels?

If you have hand luggage only, then you may be able to leave the airport more quickly if you have an EU passport. However, if you have checked luggage then you will have to wait the same time for it to appear on the carousel regardless of what passport you hold. Reason is that luggage is not loaded and unloaded on the basis of which passport travellers have, but by travel class or short connection time.

So, the Dutch guy on the same flight as me from Newcastle to Amsterdam has to wait for his luggage to arrive before he can leave the airport just like I do.

I can count the number of times my luggage has been on the carousel before I cleared passport control on one hand from when I first began to work overseas since late 80s.

For information, BBC has reported that the EU has 6 weeks of jet fuel remaining due to the Iran war and may have to cancel flights. Link is:

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/apr/16/europe-supply-jet-fuel-iran-war-flight-cancellations-iea

If there is no fuel, how will an EU passport help?

More irrelevant twaddle...

Greece has switched off the EES as it was delaying tourists from entering and spending their money on Greece. The EU has given permission for members to switch off EES to ease congestion. Link is:

https://etias.com/articles/eu-entry/exit-system-full-implementation-still-april-9,-with-flexibility#:~:text=Summer%20may%20bring%20leeway,to%20manage%20summer%20travel%20congestion.

Whats the point of having EES if countries using it can switch it off when it gets busy?

Sovereignty

Wrong answer. Countries around the world will bend/ignore rules when it suits them financially. Tourism accounts for 10% of EU GDP. So, it’s not in their interests to make it more difficult for tourists to enter.

Funniest part of all is that whilst the EU is making it more difficult to enter for those people who want to spend their money in the EU, they are still being invaded by people crossing the Mediterranean Sea and Eastern European border who don’t contribute anything.

Sadly for the UK, the greater the number of people who cross both the Mediterranean Sea and the Eastern European border, the more that arrive in Calais.

I understand Bulgaria voted in Russia friendly Radev

Funniest part of all is that whilst the EU is making it more difficult to enter for those people who want to spend their money in the EU, they are still being invaded by people crossing the Mediterranean Sea and Eastern European border who don’t contribute anything.

"invaded"

Tell us who you are without telling us who you are.

And here was us just thinking you were only interested in the legitimacy of the vote and the economics of it all @EEexpat

@DuncinToffee

Many of the people I know in Bulgaria are interested in becoming part of Russia. They have been promised cheaper energy.

More significantly, they have not seen any increase in quality of life since Bulgaria joined the EU 1 January 2007. A common view is that money received from the EU goes into government pockets rather to the people.

@Spandauer

Invasion is a fair word to use for illegals. Borders and passport control are meant to ensure that people do not represent a threat to the security of the country they wish to enter.

If you disagree with borders and are happy for people to enter the UK without check, vote for the Greens.

We know Russia would like to see the end of the EU

We know Russia would like to see the end of the EU

EU expansion eastwards was a bad decision as Putin interpreted it as an EU/NATO attempt to ring fence Russia. I agree.

Former German colleagues from companies such as Siemens and VAG suggested that it was necessary to allow Eastern European countries into the EU to prevent them from becoming part of Russia. France and UK went along with it as it would enable easier access to cheap labour.

However, allowing Eastern European countries, who were nowhere near as well developed as the Western EU members, has been a failure for all for the following reasons:

Easy access to cheap labour has brought down wages for natives of the developed countries. This is quoted by Switzerland as one of the reasons they will not become a full EU member.

Eastern Europe is losing the younger generation, who had the benefit of education and training and could make a difference to their native country to other countries. ie a brain drain. Poland is offering tax concessions for polish people to return as they have a skills shortage.

As written by PutinGPT...

from Bulgaria

I suspect Poland's struggle to keep its young people has a great deal to do with its stance on LGBT and women's rights.