
EU agrees Brexit extension to 31 January - rwx------
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-50205603f
======
seren
Links seems to be dead :

Maybe point on [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-
politics-50205603](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-50205603) instead.

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philipov
I expected another extension. There have been so many extensions already, I
feel conditioned to expect they'll just keep doing it. It feels like noone on
either side actually wants Brexit to happen, but they've politicked each other
into a corner, and they're all too proud to back down. It will be a shock when
a deadline hits and they finally don't extend it.

~~~
Gerthak
Only 2nd extension. It's more about "democratic rule and negotiations is
difficult". If it was XVIII century they would have simply leave & do the rest
with an Armada.

~~~
ceejayoz
Third, actually.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brexit#Extensions](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brexit#Extensions)

Granted 22 March 2019, 10 April 2019, and today.

~~~
Arnt
Or fourth, perhaps.

This all started after the referendum, when David Cameron decided not to send
in the A50 letter on the next working day. The EU-27 first mumbled politely
that was okay, then mumbled equally politely that the letter had better be
sent before a year had passed. And indeed it was signed and sent shortly
before a year had passed.

There was nothing formal about that, but if you want to count deadlines then
that one may be the first. Or not, IMO it depends on why you're counting.

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NikolaeVarius
What happened to the ditch Boris Was going to dig?

~~~
poooogles
Die in _

~~~
NikolaeVarius
I would have hoped he would have the courtesy to dig one deep for himself
after his rhetoric

~~~
dplgk
If anyone would actually dig one and then lay in it as a stunt, it's Boris.

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Zenst
As a UK citizen, I wonder if we should just switch to PAYG EU membership
contract until we work out what new phone we want. /s

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anotherevan
RT @julianpopov: The year is 2192. The British Prime Minister visits Brussels
to ask for an extension of the Brexit deadline. No one remembers where this
tradition originated, but every year it attracts many tourists from all over
the world.

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ocdtrekkie
At some point they should give the UK an indefinite extension so the UK can
just remain in the process of leaving for the next several decades.

There's nothing more permanent than a temporary solution...

~~~
vidanay
Keep Calm and Brexit On.

~~~
ceejayoz
Requesting extensions will eventually become part of the UK's ceremonial
tradition, like dragging the Speaker.

~~~
eesmith
"The year is 2192. The British Prime Minister visits Brussels to ask for an
extension of the Brexit deadline. No one remembers where this tradition
originated, but every year it attracts many tourists from all over the world."
\-
[https://mobile.twitter.com/julianpopov/status/11856641961780...](https://mobile.twitter.com/julianpopov/status/1185664196178042880)

------
ceejayoz
The next extension might as well be to February 31st.

~~~
Gerthak
There will be no more extensions. This is it.

~~~
philipov
Didn't we hear that already? Multiple times, already?

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finnjohnsen2
The soviet union did hard exit.

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lousken
EU shouldn't have agreed to this, either leave now or never

~~~
me_me_me
No. It would hurt not only Uk's economy but also most of EU's economy.

How, say french PM, is going to justify to his ppl that they will suffer...
say loss of 1% of gdp, just because politicians decided to teach British a
lesson?

No politician would be willing to do this, that would be career suicide
brought up every elections.

Plus bonus UK then gets a 'get-out-of-jail-free' card.

'Oh, the evil EU kicked us out without us having say, and now we are
suffering. See how bad EU is' \- Borris or another brexiter PM.

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frou_dh
Flagged as off topic. And probable rubbish comment thread.

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yostrovs
It's a crisis of democracy when the people voted so clearly and they're not
given what they voted for. They're being slowly ignored by the political
class.

~~~
bb123
In what world is 51.89%/48.11% "so clear"? You make it sound like it was 90%.

~~~
ceejayoz
It's baffling to me that Parliament requires a 2/3 vote to call an early
election, but something earthshaking like leaving the EU somehow is 50% + 1.

~~~
philwelch
At no point would there have been a 2/3 majority to join the EU in the first
place, though.

~~~
ceejayoz
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1975_United_Kingdom_European_C...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1975_United_Kingdom_European_Communities_membership_referendum)

Yes: 67.23%

~~~
Zenst
The EU and the ECM (what was voted for back in 1975) are two different beasts.

Maastricht and Lisbon treaty would of been key changes in that transition that
many countries had votes (and also revotes) upon. The UK, did not alas and it
is pretty obvious that it should of.

Ironically, the children of 1975 era had no say in their future until 2016 and
you can see how they voted. Also those that who in 1975 voted to join the ECM,
turned out to be twice as likely to vote to leave the EU in 2016.

But the whole aspect of thresholds is one that does need some thought and
equally turnout. Maybe voting should be compulsory? Maybe threshold standards
need to be defined. After all, does the EU really want to have members who are
not that commited to the goals?

Democracy is a fickle matter depending upon how you measure it.

~~~
philwelch
To make matters more complicated, the primary reason the UK isn't part of the
Euro is because Britain crashed out of the pan-European exchange rate controls
in 1992; if it wasn't for the "Black Wednesday" crisis, the pound sterling may
have been abolished, again without popular referendum.

Both predicting and contributing to this crisis was George Soros, who shorted
the pound sterling and profited immensely from it. This is one of many reasons
he is a controversial figure in some circles.

~~~
Zenst
ERM and the Euro, whilst somewhat entwined are not mutually inclusive. The
reason the UK never took on the Euro, was many fold and nothing to do with Mr
Soros and the great EMF gamification for printing money.

If they did a referendum upon the Pound and the Euro in the UK, the result
would be much clearer and conclusive than any membership referendum. Heck,
even Scotland if it leaves the UK, wants to keep the Pound.

AS for the Euro, it worries me, so much QE has been actioned by the ECB, that
it just feels like, once that eventually stops
[https://www.reuters.com/article/us-eurozone-ecb-qe/the-
life-...](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-eurozone-ecb-qe/the-life-and-
times-of-ecb-quantitative-easing-2015-18-idUSKBN1OB1SM) though they have
instigated new QE measures this year.

One aspect the UK has impacted the Euro has been in blocking (as a members
vote) many initiatives to control the financial markets and with that, been
instrumental in curtailing the controls needed for a large encompassing
currency.

But I totally disagree that the UK's primary reason for adopting the Euro was
due to the ERM shenanigans.
[https://www.economicshelp.org/blog/215/uncategorized/why-
uk-...](https://www.economicshelp.org/blog/215/uncategorized/why-uk-stayed-
out-of-euro/) covers some reasons. But to say it is complicated is part and
parcel of any currency control.

Remember, the UK's key income area's are Financial and Services, two area's in
which the EU has been stymied to take control of, mostly due to it not being
in the UK's main interest. Heck, even opening up services has been a backfoot
EU initiative with members still not opening up those markets. But that is
another matter, equally complicated and hard to summarize in a few sentences.

