Comments by "Taint ABird" (@taintabird23) on "EU stands 'fully behind Ireland' on Brexit, according to chief negotiator" video.

  1. He is the influential leader of Ireland, a self-confident nation that won its sovereignty from an Imperial oppressor and knows how to use it.
    3
  2. The Irish can't have 'northern Ireland back' under those circumstances, because the GFA sets out the rules under which unity can occur. The Irish want to stick to that set of rules - but Brexit is undermining it. Leaving without a deal will pull the rug from under unionism in NI just as nationalists are about to become the majority. It will destabilise NI and probably the whole island of Ireland. Perhaps you should have thought about all of this before the Brexit vote?
    2
  3. No, he's right. The UK is finished, there is too much division in your polity and in your society, there is no strong British Demos anymore, and nine of the ten most deprived parts of the EU are in the UK. The UK needs to leave without a deal so that in a year or two, after the reality of Brexit is understood, it can come back to the negotiating table and accept the EUs terms for a comprehensive trade deal. When that happens, Ireland will be your biggest supporter in the EU.
    1
  4. ;if you are right about the most deprived areas being in the UK, they were created while a member of the EU and while the UK is the second or third highest contributor to the EU budget. Now why is that?' Poor domestic policies by successive British governments of all hues. The Richest part of the EU is also in the UK. Now why is that? 'The UK needs to leave to have the freedom to rebalance its economy' It will not work. It will only succeed in increasing economic inequality. Unless that is of course the plan. 'If we were to stay the EU should be paying the UK from the EU budget. Given your analysis I suggest the UK should be receiving the maximum amount.' Yes, but you have to apply for it like everyone else. 'I like the delay if it means taking part in EU elections, it gives the UK longer to damage the EU and more time to prepare for a no deal Brexit' More damage? The UK has done no damage yet. Get back to me when you have something approaching a coherent argument.
    1
  5. 'try this, the EU is negotiating with the most corrupt, incompetent and duplicitous UK govenment.' The EU has not begun to negotiate yet. The EU has simply set out its terms, while the UK has done nothing but negotiate with itself. Brexit, as promised, cannot be delivered but the slow learners think they are being betrayed. 'Any inconsistencies can be ascribed to the dichotomy between the UK political elite and the UK people.' Your problem is your own entitled, privately educated, confident but deeply ignorant elite - not the EU. They are out of touch with many of British, mainly English, citizens. Blaming the EU is simply displacement. 'The UK has slowed the federalisation of the EU and could still veto the next EU budget' Perhaps, but the UK has overplayed fears of a ferderal Europe in their own Project Fear, as really only the French and Germans want it. The future of the EU is not as a superstate, but as a multi-speed bloc. 'A budget that will be difficult anyway, if the UK leaves without a deal and no agreed payment to the EU.' The UK contribution to the EU budget is tiny when compared to the EUs GDP. Currently members pay 1% of their GDP into EU coffers, and raising this to a whooping 1.1% will cover the UK contribution. Let go of this 'they need us more than we need them' rubbish, it is mere hubris.
    1
  6. 'you are confusing the EU budget with the GDP of the EU, not he same.' The EU budget comes from the contributions each member makes annually - their 1% of GDP pay-in The UKs contribution is easily replaced by increasing these payments by .1% per member. I'm not confusing anything. 'Multi speed Europe, don't be stupid.' I'm not. Progress in the EU can only occurred if all are agreed; the Italians and the Dutch are two of the original members who have already become skeptical about the Superstate; there is no way the EU is will be able to agree to much further integration when you have 27 countries with 27 different aspirations and agendas. Brexit is not only a learning curve for the UK, you know. 'You will all be paying EU income tax in no time.' Is this a feeling or a fact based statement? 'Super state EU is really a French project supported by the eurocrats. The Germans are not so keen given they are begining to realise they are going to pay for it while losing much of the control they once had.' The Germans and the French will make the core of the multi-speed EU. '...they have just issued demands and expected the UK to comply, well that is not going to happen.' We will see. So far the UK has managed to deliver none of its promises based on its trade with the EU, and the UK has rolled over on a regular basis. I think the UK will crash out, a hard border will go up in Ireland the UK will return to the negotiating table once the economic reality of Brexit hits the ordinary people. Unfortunately, its up to the EU to be adult in the room. I give it two or three years.
    1
  7. Ireland is being stabbed in the back?
    1