| > Had we been voting for the 1970s era EEC, I'd have gladly voted Remain. The UK was not a signatory of any relevant treaty post-EEC. It opted out of the Schengen Area, of the Euro zone and even of the Charter of Fundamental Rights. The idea that the UK was being controlled by a distant bureaucracy in Brussels is one of the many lies told by tabloids. The EU is far from perfect, but the UK was never in it in any meaningful sense. It was mostly being oppressed by tomato size regulations and things of that sort. Ironically, they will probably still have to comply to all that if they wish to maintain trade agreements with Europe. This entire thing was based on lies and disgust at "experts". And a good dose of xenophobia. I have lived in the UK and I have never seen a EU flag being flown anywhere (unlike what you see in any other EU country). It was always more likely to see an American of Commonwealth-country flag than an EU one. There is no EU constitution, by the way. It was rejected by referendum in several member states and the project died. The UK already enjoyed access to EU markets while giving almost nothing in return to the common project. In fact, many people in Europe felt that the UK was participating mostly to prevent further integration. Even British comedy thought so: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37iHSwA1SwE I think younger people see things differently, are less xenophobic and less attached to nationalist ideas, borders and walls. The next generation might have brought real participation of the UK in the EU (i.e. real skin in the game). Unfortunately, Baby Boomers still had another social contract to wipe their asses with before they checked out. So here we are. |
It's true the EU constitution was rejected, but the project didn't die: it was replaced by the treaty of Lisbon which contained most of the changes which were in the proposal for the EU constitution. See for instance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_establishing_a_Constitu...
The fact that those changes were brought back in via the back door created even more distrust in the political leaders and the EU than before, in particular in those countries where the EU constitution was rejected in referendums.