Which country will be next to follow us out of the EU ?

I put this in the ‘chat’ section deliberately.

I have noticed quite a number of comments on other threads from posters who say that they never join in discussions on the politics threads as they can get so heated and unpleasant at times.

So far with one or two notable exceptions this has been fine with calm comments and opinions from both sides.

I think it will be interesting. Which other European countries are not in the EU? I think Monaco, Switzerland, Iceland, Norway...? Lots more! What gets me, working in the airline industry, is that despite an EU directive banning Air Traffic Control strikes, every summer the French went on strike yet never seemed to get fined by the EU.

@nannajanie, we have a second home in France and our neighbours rolled their eyes and said only the stubborn Brits would do this. Other neighbours in Brittany told us they just hate Macron. I will stick my neck out and day I think the Netherlands or Sweden will be wanting a referendum next or Ireland as they will now be asked to contribute significantly more.

Many countries have a right wing dislike of the EU just because the EU has too many liberal policies. I don’t see Holland remotely leaving the EU the ties are far too close, Sweden has always been independant neutral minded, possibly. Ireland, has received a lot of development aid from the EU but with the UK outside it would mean adopting the same rules as the UK.

Next question, given the history, would the Irish want to be tied to the UK in that way

Monaco not in the EU? Wonder why not.

Watched some programmes about Monaco last week, looked a great place to live.

No income tax, well policed, hardly any crime and what there was clamped down on immediately, subsidised rents for its citizens.
Of course, one in three residents are millionaires....

And Prince Albert seems to be in charge of everything including granting citizenship to potential applicants.

Don’t think Paddyanne would approve somehow.

We have already had a taste of the possibilities for us as a totally independent nation with the fact that we were the first country in the world to authorise the Pfizer vaccine, enabling us to get off to a flying start.

This hasn’t gone unnoticed by some European countries which have expressed dissatisfaction with the delays in their countries vaccine rollout.

Calendargirl

Monaco not in the EU? Wonder why not.

Watched some programmes about Monaco last week, looked a great place to live.

No income tax, well policed, hardly any crime and what there was clamped down on immediately, subsidised rents for its citizens.
Of course, one in three residents are millionaires....

And Prince Albert seems to be in charge of everything including granting citizenship to potential applicants.

Don’t think Paddyanne would approve somehow.

Just like Jersey and several other Tax havens you have to be mega rich to become a resident, although there is no income tax, there are plenty of other ways they make you pay.

Fennel very interesting list, thanks! I didn’t realise all those countries were European either.

I really dont agree with tax havens ,of course that was the principle reason Boris'circus wanted out of the EU .Monaco isn't any of my business but I would prefer citizens of this country to pay their taxes ..yes even that new Knight Lewis Hamilton.....

paddyanne

I really dont agree with tax havens ,of course that was the principle reason Boris'circus wanted out of the EU .Monaco isn't any of my business but I would prefer citizens of this country to pay their taxes ..yes even that new Knight Lewis Hamilton.....

It was the Royals being in charge that I thought you wouldn’t like Paddyanne, not so much the tax exiles.

The vaccine rollout nothing to do with Brexit. The EU aren’t organising the vaccine rollout - it something independent countries within the EU are doing. BTW Billions of £s have been moved from the City of London to the EU on the first 2 days of trading That hasn’t made the headlines.

Calendargirl

Monaco not in the EU? Wonder why not.

Watched some programmes about Monaco last week, looked a great place to live.

No income tax, well policed, hardly any crime and what there was clamped down on immediately, subsidised rents for its citizens.
Of course, one in three residents are millionaires....

And Prince Albert seems to be in charge of everything including granting citizenship to potential applicants.

Don’t think Paddyanne would approve somehow.

Last time we drove through Monaco I thought it looked a dreadful place to live. Wall to wall tower blocks for the most part, many of which are obviously empty. Just used for their address.

Calendergirl the programmes on Monaco are certainly interesting.

welshwife
Many countries convinced EU the place to be
Goodluck with that one

David...I am Channel Islands, not Jersey, however please don’t suggest we are tax havens, we are not. If you did a little homework it is plain to see. Yes you have to prove your wealth to buy and live in Jersey.

dogsmother

David...I am Channel Islands, not Jersey, however please don’t suggest we are tax havens, we are not. If you did a little homework it is plain to see. Yes you have to prove your wealth to buy and live in Jersey.

An awful lot of companies have offices in the CI, I don’t suppose they are doing it for charity are they, all entirely legal of course.
They are avoiding UK taxation though.

www.taxcafe.co.uk/resources/tax_jersey.html

Maybe this clarifies CI advantages

The Isle of Man isn't in the EU either.

Yes individual countries in Europe will arrange their own vaccine rollout vegansrock but the EU medical regulator had to pass the vaccine first and this was done about three weeks later than ours.

Had we not made our escape we wouldn’t have been able to get off to such a good start.

I think JE is correct, there there was a co-ordinated policy for vaccines, also chemicals and food standards, the UK approving use in the emergency situation was correct. In normal times having one approval body for EU is more efficient than each country doing it.

Vaccines do carry a side effect risk and there have been some adverse affects but so far they have been limited, let’s hope that continues.

Our vaccine approval was compliant with EU regulations which were still in force in the UK.

EU regs. permit countries to give individual approvals.

See Full Fact:

fullfact.org/health/coronavirus-vaccine-brexit/

Yes, Jennifer you are right, and we were able to get ahead.

Preferred Europe when it had currencies for each country, think the Euro ,and the fact the no border situ on mainland Europe with the exception of Switzerland , this has allowed people to cross Europe and try to gain entry into UK .
A few years ago , those countries who had problems with the Euro currency such as Greece ,and Eire looked like possible candidates . I was in the RAF in West Germany in the 70`s prior to us going into EU , and one of my jobs was to do forms for goods to travel back to the UK in about 5 or 6 copy's, so the vehicle with those goods , would at each border give a copy of that document to the border guards.
Mick

lemongrove

Yes, Jennifer you are right, and we were able to get ahead.

It had nothing to do with Brexit. Ant EU country could have done the same.

The head of the MHRA, Dr June Raine, has been clear that the vaccine was approved under EU law. Asked directly whether Brexit made the process quicker, she said: “We have been able to authorise the supply of the vaccine using provisions under European law which exist until 1 January.”

But, from the Full Fact article linked to above.

In June, the European Commission called for a “common strategy” between member states and proposed a “central procurement process” for purchasing vaccines. In October, it said it was “imperative that member states follow a common vaccination strategy for vaccine deployment [...] Coordination at EU level is required to align our efforts, to ensure and to show solidarity, and to best ensure the full functioning of the internal market, good public health management for Covid-19 matters and beyond, and the protection of all EU citizens no matter where they live.”

That was a very strong message to the member states, and none of them ignored it.