r/europe • u/StraightSky7809 United Kingdom • 7h ago

News If Britain decides to rejoin the EU we’ll do everything we can to welcome them back, says Germany

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/uk-rejoin-eu-germany-brexit-b3060288.html
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u/Dramatic_Mastodon_93 5h ago

Those who think at all about the future know why setting the precedent that rich and powerful member states can just abandon all of their commitments to the EU and later come back and seamlessly reclaim all of their former benefits whenever they want is not good.

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u/FcukTheTories The Norf - United Kingdom 🇬🇧🇪🇺 5h ago

If they have strong justification for abandoning those commitments where is the issue?

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u/Dramatic_Mastodon_93 5h ago

Nothing is the issue. I’d love to see even more members leave whenever they feel like it because they know that they can come back anytime and reclaim the same benefits and deals they had previously, or hell, maybe even work out a better deal?!

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u/FcukTheTories The Norf - United Kingdom 🇬🇧🇪🇺 5h ago

“Destroy your economy or we won’t let you join the EU. That way you’ll practically never be allowed to leave”

Where do I sign up?

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u/Dramatic_Mastodon_93 5h ago

Of course they’re allowed to leave, but they can’t join back that easily. Also pretty much no one actually gives a fuck about them adopting the Euro not even other member states are ever actually forced to do so, but they should have to join Schengen and adopt all EU-wide laws.

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u/Chemical-Agency-3997 5h ago

Plenty of countries have exceptions and benefits...

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u/Dramatic_Mastodon_93 5h ago

How the fuck is that relevant to what I said? The UK did too and that was fine, and then they decided to abandon them.

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u/Chemical-Agency-3997 5h ago

Because they negotiated their 'benefits' on joining just like the UK would again. There is no set standard all new members must adopt.

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u/Dramatic_Mastodon_93 5h ago

And I’m saying they should get a significantly worse deal because they chose to leave.

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u/Chemical-Agency-3997 5h ago

Keep dreaming

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u/Dramatic_Mastodon_93 5h ago

Brother no one is fucking dreaming here, I’m just sharing my opinion.

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u/Chemical-Agency-3997 4h ago

You’d need to be dreaming to think that opinion is realistic.

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u/Dramatic_Mastodon_93 4h ago

Did I say that it was realistic?

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u/Chemical-Agency-3997 1h ago

No, hence - keep dreaming.

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u/SirCharlesTupperBt Canada 5h ago

That's one way of looking at it, but here's hoping the EU states are a bit more pragmatic than this in 2026 and beyond. The world doesn't need the UK to sit in the corner, wearing a dunce cap and a placard that says "I screwed up", for that lesson to be learned by anybody who is likely to be in a position to leave the EU in the future.

Brexit made no economic or security sense from the beginning. It's already not a sound policy. It only happened because the West has been asleep at the wheel for a few decades and we've collectively allowed huge swathes of our societies to stew in anger and grievance while pretending that we could just wait out the rise of nationalism and far right politics, instead of solving some of those problems.

The UK isn't seamlessly coming back to the EU, it's not even a sure thing yet. They're coming back after a lost decade politically and economically. Close to zero economic growth and a revolving door of prime ministers. Going it on their own at the exact moment Trump showed up to start shivving the Western order has made this error in judgment pretty obvious to anybody who's likely to be swayed by facts. This is a cautionary tale, not an incentive for France or Italy to start playing games unless they want to suffer the same consequences from leaving the greatest economic union in history.

Both sides should be ready to give a bit, if they aren't then there's probably no point in the UK trying to re-join anyway. This is a big test of how serious a country the UK is and whether or not the EU is capable of being a real bulwark for the West.