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Brexit Officially Begun, Article 50 Just Invoked

posted by on Thursday March 30 2017, @07:14AM   Printer-friendly
from the Brexit-Means-Brexit dept.

An Anonymous Coward writes:

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-39431428

The UK Government has officially notified the EU that they are invoking Article 50. This begins the 2-year timer for the UK to leave the EU.

In a statement in the Commons, [Prime Minister Teresa] May said: "Today the government acts on the democratic will of the British people and it acts too on the clear and convincing position of this House."

She added: "The Article 50 process is now under way and in accordance with the wishes of the British people the United Kingdom is leaving the European Union.

"This is an historic moment from which there can be no turning back."

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  • (Score: 2) by TheRaven on Thursday March 30 2017, @09:11AM (8 children)

    by TheRaven (270) on Thursday March 30 2017, @09:11AM (#486398) Journal
    What you're asking for is basically what the EU provides. A group of countries that are at relatively similar economic and social levels and complete freedom of movement between them. If you want to move to the UK from France or Germany, it's no more difficult than moving from another part of the same country (at least legally - bank accounts and currency conversions are annoying). If you want to come from India or Pakistan then it's a lot harder. Amusingly, non-EU immigrants was one of the big blocs voting for Brexit for precisely this reason: they didn't like the fact that EU immigrants were treated better than them by the bureaucracy.
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  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 30 2017, @09:40AM (7 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 30 2017, @09:40AM (#486406)

    What you're asking for is basically what the EU provides. A group of countries that are at relatively similar economic and social levels and complete freedom of movement between them. If you want to move to the UK from France or Germany, it's no more difficult than moving from another part of the same country

    That's what the EU used to provide. But then someone came up with the brilliant idea to invite large parts of eastern Europe, countries who are not anywhere near the same standards of living.

    • (Score: 3, Informative) by TheRaven on Thursday March 30 2017, @10:22AM (4 children)

      by TheRaven (270) on Thursday March 30 2017, @10:22AM (#486415) Journal
      Countries like Poland and Romania are pretty close. You might want to visit them sometime. They're a lot closer than most of Africa, India, and so on.
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      • (Score: 2) by mojo chan on Thursday March 30 2017, @11:57AM (3 children)

        by mojo chan (266) on Thursday March 30 2017, @11:57AM (#486430)

        Also, the point of them joining us to come to to western European levels and provide us with a bigger market. Just like Ireland and Spain.

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        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 30 2017, @03:05PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 30 2017, @03:05PM (#486492)

          And, BTW, the United Kingdom when they joined. After all, back then the British economy wasn't doing particularly good. It was only after they joined the European Community that they recovered.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 31 2017, @01:24AM (1 child)

          by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 31 2017, @01:24AM (#486867)

          So, you're not allowed to trade with them if they're not in the same club?

          • (Score: 2) by TheRaven on Friday March 31 2017, @09:25AM

            by TheRaven (270) on Friday March 31 2017, @09:25AM (#486999) Journal
            You are, but they're allowed to add import tariffs on things that you're trying to sell them. They're also allowed to have entirely different sets of regulations that make compliance harder and push up your costs.
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    • (Score: 2) by zocalo on Thursday March 30 2017, @10:30AM (1 child)

      by zocalo (302) on Thursday March 30 2017, @10:30AM (#486417)
      Yes, they did, with the best intentions of helping them grow their economies and become a net contributor to the EU in the due course of time, which in some cases seems to be starting to work, although there's still a way to go. I'm surprised you missed out on pinging the irony meter by pointing out that those invites were championed by the UK though, although the real irony would be if the long term result of Brexit would be if some of those countries eventually had stronger economies than the UK, even if it is more than a little unlikely at present.
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      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 30 2017, @03:09PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 30 2017, @03:09PM (#486497)

        although the real irony would be if the long term result of Brexit would be if some of those countries eventually had stronger economies than the UK, even if it is more than a little unlikely at present.

        I'm not so sure that it is unlikely. Note that to get that situation, the economy of those countries doesn't need to exceed the current UK economy …