
“Blockchain might solve Ireland border problems” – UK Minister of Finance - runn1ng
https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2018/10/01/world/europe/01reuters-britain-eu-hammond-border.html
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gus_massa
The article has no details, and there is no explanation about how a blockchain
may solve any of the problem. I's just appeal to magic.

(Also, what are the problems? There have been borders with different money for
millennia.)

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arcticbull
Re: what are the problems?

One of the major reasons the UK decided to severely injure itself (sorry, to
"Brexit") is that they wanted to eliminate free movement/migration, primarily
from Eastern Europe, to the UK. This is permitted today due to the EU's
principal of freedom of movement between member states.

During exit talks, the EU, however, told them there's no world in which they
get to pick and choose from what they consider the 'four freedoms' (movement
of goods, movement of labor, movement of capital, movement of services). This
is not something they thought would really happen - they overlooked the fact
the EU27 had every incentive to nail the UK to the wall to remind the
remaining member states they don't get to pick and choose either, whether they
stay or go.

This wouldn't be a big deal in and of itself, the UK is an island right?
Except... along the border between Northern Ireland (EU27) and Ireland-Ireland
(UK). The place they had a decades long civil war ("the troubles"). Nobody
along that border wants to see a new physical border or checkpoints
constructed. However, the EU won't allow goods to move freely unless the UK
remains in the customs union/single market/single immigration region. Leaving
this was a core premise for Brexit too. They're now backed into an epic
corner, where they can't figure out how to have a border for goods, but not
really, and not for people, but also for people. Hence their appeal to magic.

This all came to a head recently when the UK PM retreated to Chequers with
some top cabinet ministers to put together a last-ditch proposal to make a
deal. Appearing to her hardliners as giving up too much, a few left her
cabinet (Boris Johnson, for one). Proposed to the EU27, they told them, again,
they don't get to pick and choose freedoms, and to stuff it. I think the core
solution proposed was to get EU customs officers to charge UK duties on goods
arriving at EU ports destined for the UK? I can't remember exactly, it didn't
really make sense. Hence this stroke (of genius?) from Hammond, probably as a
way to track duties paid as nobody trusts each other.

This is going to get worse, yet, once the gaze shifts to Gibraltar. The tiny
little British Overseas Territory hanging off Spain. The same issue exists
there with goods. And people. In fact Spain has been demanding the return of
Gibraltar for decades, but once they were both in the EU, and people and goods
could move freely anyways, it didn't matter. Prepare yourselves, it's next.

tl;dr: Brexit has been, and remains, a national-level popcorn thread for
years.

Hope that helps.

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arcticbull
Wow, Brexit negotiations really aren't going well, huh? This seems like the
most obvious 'hey, look over here!' I've seen so far from an elected official.

