Thread by @nialloconghaile

There's a lot of aggression on this site from pro-European Britons towards European citizens.

Why?
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It's remainer whiplash

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#rejoinEU is quite a wide spectrum politically. This is not surprising. They range from (small C) conservatives, who want to go back to the status quo to committed Europhiles, who want the UK to take a fuller part in the community.

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For most, there is little friction. However, within that group there are several cohorts making unwanted and even #exceptionalist demands on Europe.

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Broadly, they can be classified as follows:
- demands for an easy improvement of the TCA to suit the UK, often made by Labour supporters

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- demands for baubles, often on trust, to be given to the UK, out of solidarity with remainers and to promote the idea of Europe among the UK public. For example, Galileo, youth visas, European citizenship.

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- demands for accession criteria to either European membership or EEA to be waived, particularly, standards, legal process, € and Schengen membership, and unanimity of MSs.

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- demands for Europe to amend its treaties to allow Britons advantages in travel, including 180/360 visa waivers and individual MS visa waivers, without any benefit to Europe.

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The question, as always, when you get into the meat of it, is "What's in it for Europe?" or even "But that's against treaty law, we can't do that"

Remainers are crestfallen.

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And then they're angry.

"We're on the same side. We are Europeans. Why can't you do this for us? You're worse than the Brexiters."

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And that's the whiplash: we were on the same side; now we're not.

Before the Brexit process, the union made major sacrifices to keep the UK in. We never wanted you to leave (most of us).

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Following the vote, we wanted you to win. We saw the populism and the far right infection in a major MS and friend and wanted to you to vanquish it. It was not to be, which is our loss as well as yours.

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Now the UK is outside. You are, in a sense, all Brexiters. Your state doesn't accept European law, standards or arbitration, and you don't contribute, financially or otherwise, to the general wellbeing of the community.

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Even leaving aside the sense of betrayal, saying, "But we're not like them", while true, is unhelpful. You're not asking us to make that distinction.

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You're asking us to give preference to the entire UK, Brexiter, remainer and other, above other third countries, above candidate states, even in some cases above European citizens and MSs.

Kinda nuts, no?

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Your winning is now secondary. Because your winning doesn't mean Europe winning. And that's the issue. We want benefits to Europe, whether its battery factories, or quicker passport control, extension of our internet standards or smoother policy-making.

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So, whole I can say personally that I want the UK to be better, to solve its child poverty issues, to build a better education system, to improve productivity, to roll back the authoritarian tendency...

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to fix its governmental mess in NI, to have better access to healthcare, to resolve its constitutional struggles amicably, to reduce its regional inequality, to be better for my friends and family there

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That's just me, and that is secondary, and that is very much not a priority for Europe, which wants to deal with its problems.

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So what to do?

Concentrate on the UK first. Whinging at and to Europe is absolutely counterproductive -- we won't make Brexit work for you.

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At the risk of being repetitive, think about what Europe wants and make offers that meet those desires. Respect Europe's redlines.

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Most of all, when you're winning, apply for EEA or Europe in good faith. Watch the support from Europeans and MSs, including me, flood back. We'll eat together as family again.

Bada bing!

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A thread on how the euro and open borders *are* Europe you might enjoy.

Thanks for reading.

Ends.

This is the opposite of respecting Europe's redlines. It's demanding Europe break Schengen for a third country.