Comments by "Nigel Johnson" (@nigeljohnson9820) on "Brexit: EU warns of 'serious consequences' if UK triggers Article 16" video.

If article 16 is in the protocol, the EU must have agreed to it, they can't now complain if it is used.
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@janradtke8318 no it is exercising it's right to leave the EU, and is having to correct the forty years of codependency that the EU set up to discourage members from doing just what the UK is doing, LEAVING.
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The eu wants to reunify Ireland by stealth, but keep the UK paying for it. After all NI is effectively under EU control, with no say in its laws. Reunify Ireland and let the EU take on the political and financial liabilities that NI represents. The rest of the UK would be significantly better off.
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@e3498-v7l no, the EU is consistent, it believes that what is ours is there's and what is there's is there's. This is evident by the behaviour of the french, regarding fishing rights. Apparently an historic record of french boats poaching in UK coastal waters is reason to award them a fishing licence now.
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The UK escaped becoming a vassal state of the EU, Northern Ireland was not as lucky, it has no say in the laws and rules the EU imposes upon it. Force the EU to take full political and financial liability for Northern Ireland.
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@Don-Coyote-De-Transylvania the EU is being treated as it deserves, as a blackmailer.
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@benghiskahn3673 the UK pays £10.8 billion to northern Ireland each year, I doubt if the EU can match that. It is reported that it send at best £500 million to NI each year. So your assertion is false.
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@guleiro you mean that NI has been unified with the south, by stealth. Let's make it official and make the eu take responsibility for NI. Including its security and its financial liability. The rest of the UK would be much better off, saving about £11 billion a year, and freeing the UK from eu involvement, allowing it to apply tariffs on eu imports.
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@guleiro given the history of NI and its impact on the rest of the UK you can be sure we did know, and are happy with the consequences, it like losing a gangrenous limb, something of a relief. What is interesting is that the EU does not to make reunification official. As to northern Ireland voting not to leave, in that respect it was acting as an anchor, binding the rest of the UK to the EU. Taking the limb analogy a little further, NI was already in the jaws of the EU parasite, for the rest of the UK to escape it maybe necessary to sever that limb.
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@hmkbch NI is living in a temporary best if both worlds. There is no reason for the UK to continuing its financial support for NI, if it does not have the trade to mitigate the cost. Let NI reunify, than the EU can deal with the disenfranchised loyalists and the cost of support. It will further free the UK from EU control. At the moment NI is a vassal state of the EU, a date the rest of the UK narrowly avoided. I really would like the EU to take on the £11 billion cost, that would be a significant wind fall for the rest of the UK. Let's see how the people of NI react to being controlled by Brussels through Dublin, and cutting all ties with the UK.
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@hmkbch the EU usually only refunds part of the money it receives from states that contribute to its budget. So while the UK was a member of the EU, NI was just getting back some of the money the UK paid as membership fee. As I said the current situation is unique. NI is forced to obey EU laws and directives as par of its unpaid for EU membership. Since the UK is trade with NI, as part of the UK, as been usurped by the EU, there is no reason for the UK to continue to support it to the same level. I am sure that if NI prospers under it peculiar Goldilocks status, and starts paying the UK huge amounts of tax revenue, the EU will quickly reconsider the relationship. The real problem is intractable, being both political and religious in nature. It is surprising how malleable Irish idealism can be when there is money involved, sitting on the fence is currently very profitable. Ending the current Goldilocks relationship will serve to concentrate minds in province wonderfully. It will also throw a large spanner into the EU strategy.
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@guleiro they may have been some that did not consider the impact of brexit on NI, but anyone who lived through the 1970s will be well aware of the irish terrorist attacks on the UK. But the UK cannot be held hostage in the EU, simply to panda to the small terrorist groups in Ireland. As it is, the decision for reunification is not in the hands of UK politicians, it is dependent on a referendum vote by the people of Ireland, so further terror attacks on the mainland UK would be pointless, and attacks in NI would most likely be counter productive. Again the GFA only concentrated on pandering to IRA violence, completely ignoring the attitude of the loyalists to a closed border with the rest of the UK. It is disingenuous to believe that the EU respects UK sovereignty, while creating an internal border. A border that would be just as valid between Ireland and the rest of the EU. The current arrangement is unworkable and unfair to the UK. It also risks the peace in NI. If the EU wants to take responsibility for reunification, then it should do so, and face the consequences, or it should close one of its two borders with, or within Ireland.
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@hmkbch by rogue states , you must also include France, Germany and the US to name but a few as all are equally guilty of reneging on treaties when it suits them. The issue in Ireland is still divided along sectarian lines, so it's impossible to exclude the religious element. The remaining in the SM and the UK, highlight the flaw in the agreement, because they cannot both be true at the same time, as is evident by the stresses being generated. Both the EU and the UK are pandering to the threats made by a small number in a terrorist organisation. It is reunification by stealth. To regularise the situation z requires a referendum in NI on reunification, if the vote is no, the border between north and south should be re-established. If yes, then Ireland is reunited, and NI problems become the EU's responsibility. And I do mean the EU'S, because the RoI has already been subsumed into the EU and is no more independent than a local county.
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@guleiro you are conflating two different issues. The UK had the right to leave the EU. NI cannot be used to bond the UK into the EU against its will. The UK has left, now deal with it.
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@hmkbch if you are in the EU legal corruption must be second nature. . EU member states lost their sovereignty when they joined, ask Poland or Hungary. The EU asserts its law takes Supremacy over member state law and even their constitution. A situation that will only get worse as the EU moves inexorably towards federalisation. The member states have already been effectively reduced to the status of local councils, forced to do what Brussels decides. The EU trick is to divide and conquer, it allows the tyranny of the majority. It's just that the majority shifts depending on the issue, so the EU bureaucrats can always impose their will on the member states. If you want an example of legalised corruption, just look back at how the Greek financial crisis was handled, loaning money to Greece to pay back to German banks. Stealing Greek assets to pay off a debt that was engineered for them. The head of the ECB was convicted of making illegal payments. The EU is no stranger to corruption. Sinn Fein may gain political power in NI, but a vote for reunification will most likely see a return to violence, just with the loyalists in the minority. But since it only took a few IRA terrorists to hold the country to random, I see no reason why a similar size loyalist group cannot do the same.
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@guleiro so you think it will be made better by reunification, or separating NI from the rest of the UK, if so you are deluded. It is possible that loyalist pragmatism towards profit will allow the current situation to be maintained for a while, but the withdrawal of financial support by the rest of the UK will change things. The UK had the right to leave the EU. This was decided by a referendum of all the people in the UK with a equal vote for everybody no matter where they were located. Because this vote did not go the way you wanted, you wanted it biased towards those who voted to remain. If NI joins the RoI ,and for some reason the majority in the Republic vote to leave, who will hold sway?
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@hmkbch I am not a brexiter, I did not want to join in the first place, and voted against it, as I foresaw what was going to happen. You have a very strange understanding of sovereignty. A soverign government is elected by the people and is accountable to them. It alone has the authority to make the states laws, which may be limited by its constitution. The idea that joining a "club" changes this is nonsense. In any case the "club" is constantly expanding the extent of its powers over the member states. The EU only approves of it becoming more authoritarian, and its payments to Poland and Hungary amount to a political bribe, and the more gullible in the population will fall for this. There are ample examples in nature where a trap is set will a similar bribe, take the bait and end up being consumed.
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@guleiro and reignited by the current border in the Irish sea.
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@hmkbch — A total of 52741 laws have been introduced in the UK as a result of EU legislation since 1990. The problem with EU law making is it has an inherent latch mechnisim, that makes it very difficult to repeal laws resulting from EU legislation. A state can have its laws changed by electing a new government, but this is not the case if agreement is required by all member states of the EU. The state laws remain fixed, even if a new state government is elected with a mandate to change the laws. It is the tyranny of the majority, inherent in a federal system. An election vote counts very little in most political systems, only a referendum represents true democracy. There have been a number of examples where the EU did not like the result of a member states referendum vote, and insisted on repeated votes, until it obtained the answer it wanted, and being a one way system, once that answer was provided, the question was never asked again. The EU is so large, the effectiveness of any single election vote is vanishingly small, to the point where it really does not count at all. The Maastricht treaty was also a one way vote, in the uk this was decided by a vote in parliament, by a transient configuration of MPs. The UK people expressed there disapproval by voting to leave the EU. The prisoner in a cage does not know they are a prisoner, until they find reason to test the bars of their cell. You have yet to come into conflict with the "super" state in which you now live.
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@hmkbch the UK was in the trip of the EU parasite for forty plus years,it is going to take time to recover from such a damaging infection. The efforts to make the eu more efficient is a cover for the introduction of majority voting, removing the veto of member states, this is not a move towards democracy. The EU behaves as a flock of frightened sheep huddled together, against the threat of the circling wolves, of US, China and Russia, who are all looking for an easy meal. Stability is not to be found in some federal Edifice, but in smaller states who strive to be added sufficirnt as possible. The EU has deliberately cultivated co-dependence between member states, to make more difficult for them to leave. This has produced unnecessary supply chains that spread across the continent, producing environmental damage in the process. The level of specialisation this produces, erodes resilience, making the whole EU vulnerable to shocks. In order to preserve social cohesion and produce a mobile work force, the EU seeks to surprise cultural diversity and replace loyalties to the state with loyality to the super state. After 400 years, the us has still not managed to get that right.
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@hmkbch you surprise me, you do not agree with any of my comments, surely not. If the EU is stable, why is it taking action against Hungary and Poland. When did it take action against Italy over its budget. As for Greece, that has been forced into submission, by the threat of bankruptcy. Certainly Greek assets were purchased at knock down prices, and the German banks made a profit at the expense of Greece. The EU has been unable to stop a flood of illegal economic migrants crossing its border, ensuring future social unrest. But I am sure you think the EU is for the best in the best of all possible worlds. To prove you wrong, all I have to do is wait.
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@geheimnis8187 do they not have dictionaries in Ireland,or where ever you come from.
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@geheimnis8187 because the EU wanted to extend the membership of its market to the whole of the UK. Had that happened we would be in the same position as NI, subject to its laws with no say in making them. NI is a vassal state in that respect. As far as I know it's position is unique, in that it receives benefits from EU membership but does not pay for them, while receiving support grants from the UK. For this, it gives up the control of its laws. A pragmatic solution that cannot last. The rest of the UK has no say in reunification, other than withdrawing its support to force the issue. The EU's real interest in NI extends only as far as its ability to maintain some control over the UK, and discomfort the UK government. The EU must ensure that brexit is seen as a failure. It will be a pyrrhic victory, if it manages to separate NI from the rest of the UK, for all the reasons I have already stated. Given all the pain NI has caused the rest of the UK during the twentieth century, it is of no great loss. Maybe Brussels will be forced to send "peace keeping" troops to NI, and as a result experience proxy bomb attacks, by disenfranchise loyalist terrorists, now that would be ironic.
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@geheimnis8187 it does not respect the GFA, since it risks the peace in NI.
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@geheimnis8187 no it's not, a border between the RoI and the EU is just as valid as one between NI and the rest of the UK, if a border between NI and the RoI is to be avoided. It is also not a solution if it does not work.
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@geheimnis8187 you countered you own argument. It is within the power of the people of NI to chose to remain in the EU, all they have to do is vote to leave the UK and join the RoI. The best of both worlds is no longer an option. There is the risk that the RoI might decide to leave the EU in the future, they might get a second referendum on the subject, if their lucky.
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@geheimnis8187 it is not the British you need to worry about, its the loyalists who threaten to blow up EU custom posts. The US will not be happy if British soldiers are forced to return to NI streets, to protect the EU customs posts. The GFA will be meaning less.
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