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cincosechzehn:
cincosechzehn:
“cinco wtf is brexit and why is everyone screaming about it right now” alright i’m gonna give you the best comparison i can give to help you understand this, fellow americans
imagine the map of North America: Canada, the 48 contiguous states (and Alaska up there to the right), and Mexico.
you probably think of those lines between the US and Mexico and the US and Canada as very hard borders - they’re literally between ENTIRELY DIFFERENT COUNTRIES, after all - and those borders between states? a little softer in terms of passing them when you’re in the US, right?
the EU treaties essentially turn countries in Europe into member states. Those hard borders that you and i think of between countries (like our neighbors Canada and Mexico) become more like the borders between, for example, Maryland and Pennsylvania:
same basic laws with some local level differences
considerably easier to ship stuff than it is between countries
you can apply for jobs in other states without extra paperwork
you can move between states without excessive paperwork
this makes a LOT of things easier:
travel
commerce/business
job hunting
moving to a new place
going to school/applying to university
buying stuff, in terms of currency, shipping, and quality/safety of goods
the problem is that EU rules affect every member state (that is), and that the legislative bodies are not necessarily entirely democratic. there’s also a fee members have to pay to be part of it, too. and those soft borders became really big issues in some countries that were concerned about immigration and potential terrorism.
so the UK had a vote in 2016 and they voted to leave the EU.
imagine if Texas voted to leave the United States. there would be so many questions, for example:
“How is the US going to make up for the shortfall in federal taxes from Texas?” (TX is one of the bigger economies in terms of the states so this would be a BIG ISSUE)
“If it’s not a state anymore, can I still travel there without a passport?”
“I don’t live in Texas but I work there. Do I need a work visa?”
“Will people who want to stay in the United States be allowed to go over the border into another US state and live there?”
“Will people working in Texas be allowed to become ‘Texan Citizens’ as long as they get an apartment or property there?”
“How will buses, trains, and planes travel between this new hard border?”
“How will we check the quality of Texas goods if we can’t be sure they’re following US quality assurance laws?”
“Do we levy tariffs on Texan goods?”
“What about American companies based in Texas? What happens there?”
“What about the federal trade agreements with Canada and Mexico? Do those apply to Texas now, or will Texas have to renegotiate those deals?”
“What is going to happen at the Texas-Mexico border, given how contentious and difficult issues have been there?”
that is BASICALLY what’s happening right now with Brexit negotiations.
the rules are that once you trigger “Article 50″ of the Treaty for the European Union, you have two years to figure out the details of how things will continue running. It is one HELL of a clusterfuck of a divorce settlement that’s happening right now over there, and LOTS of people are worried about how it will work: bankers, married couples in the UK where a spouse isn’t a permanent resident but is an EU citizen, druggists/pharmacies, airlines, etc.
The UK triggered article 50 in March of 2017 so they have literally 4 months to figure this out and theres still no agreement
try to wrap your head around a “Texit” situation and you’ll get a kind of relative idea of what europe is dealing with right now: EU doesn’t want to lose a big trade partner but they also don’t want to make it easy to leave (because then that gives other countries incentive to leave, which weakens the bloc), and the UK wants more autonomy but also wants the benefits of EU membership like the single market.
(Your picture was not posted)
cincosechzehn:
cincosechzehn:
“cinco wtf is brexit and why is everyone screaming about it right now” alright i’m gonna give you the best comparison i can give to help you understand this, fellow americans
imagine the map of North America: Canada, the 48 contiguous states (and Alaska up there to the right), and Mexico.
you probably think of those lines between the US and Mexico and the US and Canada as very hard borders - they’re literally between ENTIRELY DIFFERENT COUNTRIES, after all - and those borders between states? a little softer in terms of passing them when you’re in the US, right?
the EU treaties essentially turn countries in Europe into member states. Those hard borders that you and i think of between countries (like our neighbors Canada and Mexico) become more like the borders between, for example, Maryland and Pennsylvania:
same basic laws with some local level differences
considerably easier to ship stuff than it is between countries
you can apply for jobs in other states without extra paperwork
you can move between states without excessive paperwork
this makes a LOT of things easier:
travel
commerce/business
job hunting
moving to a new place
going to school/applying to university
buying stuff, in terms of currency, shipping, and quality/safety of goods
the problem is that EU rules affect every member state (that is), and that the legislative bodies are not necessarily entirely democratic. there’s also a fee members have to pay to be part of it, too. and those soft borders became really big issues in some countries that were concerned about immigration and potential terrorism.
so the UK had a vote in 2016 and they voted to leave the EU.
imagine if Texas voted to leave the United States. there would be so many questions, for example:
“How is the US going to make up for the shortfall in federal taxes from Texas?” (TX is one of the bigger economies in terms of the states so this would be a BIG ISSUE)
“If it’s not a state anymore, can I still travel there without a passport?”
“I don’t live in Texas but I work there. Do I need a work visa?”
“Will people who want to stay in the United States be allowed to go over the border into another US state and live there?”
“Will people working in Texas be allowed to become ‘Texan Citizens’ as long as they get an apartment or property there?”
“How will buses, trains, and planes travel between this new hard border?”
“How will we check the quality of Texas goods if we can’t be sure they’re following US quality assurance laws?”
“Do we levy tariffs on Texan goods?”
“What about American companies based in Texas? What happens there?”
“What about the federal trade agreements with Canada and Mexico? Do those apply to Texas now, or will Texas have to renegotiate those deals?”
“What is going to happen at the Texas-Mexico border, given how contentious and difficult issues have been there?”
that is BASICALLY what’s happening right now with Brexit negotiations.
the rules are that once you trigger “Article 50″ of the Treaty for the European Union, you have two years to figure out the details of how things will continue running. It is one HELL of a clusterfuck of a divorce settlement that’s happening right now over there, and LOTS of people are worried about how it will work: bankers, married couples in the UK where a spouse isn’t a permanent resident but is an EU citizen, druggists/pharmacies, airlines, etc.
The UK triggered article 50 in March of 2017 so they have literally 4 months to figure this out and theres still no agreement
try to wrap your head around a “Texit” situation and you’ll get a kind of relative idea of what europe is dealing with right now: EU doesn’t want to lose a big trade partner but they also don’t want to make it easy to leave (because then that gives other countries incentive to leave, which weakens the bloc), and the UK wants more autonomy but also wants the benefits of EU membership like the single market.
(Your picture was not posted)
