[spiderfarmer]

The EU always has been a scapegoat for incompetent politicians. Now the EU is out of the picture, there’s no-one left to blame. And we can clearly see that the EU, for all its faults, is a very beneficial institution for all involved.

[ksec]

People may agree or disagree on Brexit. But my god your sentence sums up what is happening in the UK, without anyone to blame, whether it is Russia, China, US or EU, UK have simply failed to strategically plan or execute on anything.

And there are plenty of people on HN would say otherwise and say UK is fine.

[microtonal]

The EU always has been a scapegoat for incompetent politicians.

You also see this in countries still in the EU and it will happen as long as we will not have true integration, it is always easier to blame the EU for your own failings, since it is harder for the EU to fend for itself in national politics.

One recent example in my country is nitrogen deposition. Long ago, countries have committed to keeping certain nature reserves in good health (or improving them when necessary). Then many subsequent governments always chose the side of the farmers at the detriment of nature. Now many reserves' soil quality is in a terrible state and the courts have told the government to stop and fix the problem. Then we got a bunch of right-wing populist countries that have wasted many more years by blaming the EU and questioning scientific methods for measuring deposits - while it has been abundantly for a long time what actually needs to be done, buy out farmers.

At any rate, this constant undermining and blaming of the EU has the effect you'd expect it to - it destroys trust in the EU. Ironically, the saving grace now seems to be the agressor and the lost ally. More people realize that we can't act in an increasingly hostile world as small and mid-sized countries.

[spiderfarmer]

The core issue with nitrogen deposition in the Netherlands is that the country chose to protect types of nature that are impossible to maintain in a densely populated country of nearly 20 million people. Instead, it could have focused on protecting and developing habitats that are better suited to higher nitrogen levels.

For example, converting heaths and meadows (which are unnatural for a delta anyway) into food forests might have increased carbon capture, reduced nitrogen-related pressures, and supported biodiversity in a way that aligns more realistically with achievable environmental goals.

Right now they're paying lip service to goals that are impossible to achieve, even if all economic activities were cancelled today, they wouldn't make a dent.

A referendum should be held on the subject.