Will the EU Become Stronger WITHOUT Britain or will it Collapse? - TLDR News

hello and welcome to another tldr eu video with the coronavirus pandemic diverting the attention of governments businesses and people worldwide it's no surprise that the brexit negotiations haven't really surfaced in the past few months until now well we also covered it on the uk channel yesterday but you get what i'm saying regardless with both sides now committed to an accelerated intensified timetable we thought it'd be time to revisit some of our early videos on the matter of what exactly the future holds for the uk and eu so in this video we'll be taking a look at whether the eu may actually be stronger without the uk as a member state or if it will end up collapsing just a quick shout out to our new book brexit the colouring book our book takes you through 15 key moments from the brexit process letting you colour the images as well as reading exactly what happened from beginning to end not only is this a colouring book and a nice timeline of the process but everyone who buys it gets access to an exclusive tldr video so even if you're not into coloring you can support the channel get yourself a timeline of the process and an exclusive video also for a limited time we're offering serious introductory discounts and a link to the store can be found below we've worked so hard on this book so huge thanks for your support for many the uk was never really seen as the best behaved member state from the very first referendum back in 1975 the schengen and euro opt-outs to david cameron's renegotiations and so-called special status there's always been a bit of underlying tension between the uk and the european project in the eyes of some the european union was and still is transforming into a super state that the uk shouldn't be part of ultimately leading to cameron's special status to explicitly sign the uk out of the ever closer union ambition written into europe's treaties so with the uk now out of the eu and the matter of a future relationship a question of when and not if what could the future hold for a uk free eu while kobe might have diverted some attention away from brexit it also offers a good place to start looking at the future of europe we've talked about this a lot on this channel now about what europe is doing to tackle the virus and its economic implications with one of the most significant developments being the sheer size and scale of the proposed rescue and recovery plans from france and germany's 500 billion euro recovery fund to the european commission's proposal in the region of 750 billion euros with both proposals having a significant proportion if not all of the allocated money being dispensed away as grants a major change from just a few years ago when the uk vetoed an eu-wide treaty change designed to help tackle the eurozone crisis although distinctions have to be made between the eurozone crisis and the coronavirus pandemic it's clear to see that the eu-27 are deploying a new sense of unity and solidarity the extent to which this is down to a lack of a uk voice on the table is anyone's guess that's not to say that unity is set in stone the uk's departure has ultimately set the bar for a country leaving the european union article 50 has always been theoretically available but for many countries disassociated with europe the process came with too many risks and unknowns the uk has at least made clear the article 50 process and what can be expected when it comes negotiations this lesser uncertainty about a potential withdrawal could cause more and more countries to genuinely think about leaving the european union and risk undermining european unity and solidarity that's not to say this has begun to set in though according to european parliament public opinion monitoring units even in a country that's thought of as slightly euro skeptic like italy only a third of italians think that it'll be better to exit the eu and eurozone and a relative majority of 48 percent believe the opposite although on a more national level tensions haven't gone away if anything they've become a bit more strained circling back the coveted recovery packages the so-called frugal iv of austria denmark the netherlands and sweden are earnestly and consistently fighting against any measures that will cause the eu to in effect become a transfer union and lead to fiscal transfers to the likes of italy portugal and greece back in february the leaders of the frugal four co-wrote an opinion piece in the financial times calling for a responsible budget and specifically citing the uk's departure standing up for common values does not have a price tag and the single market a considerable driver of european competitiveness is not a costly endeavor we must also consider that the uk a large contributor to the eu budget has now left the block now that we have a smaller union of 27 member states we simply have to cut our coat according to the cloth the responsible approach to this situation is to prioritize in the interests of our taxpayers and in may the frugal iv preemptively rejected the notion of grants in france and germany as well as the european commission's proposal for a recovery fund instead proposing a solely loans-based emergency fund and yet again on the 16th of june the four leaders co-wrote another opinion piece in the financial times reaffirming their opposition to any grants-based proposal directly calling out the european commission part of the european commission's recent proposal is based on finding new ways for the bloc to finance itself but there is no such thing as fresh or new money money will always have to be earned and paid back by taxpayers that's not to say that europe is directly at odds with each other the french finance minister in an interview with despigal was at pains to stress this in response to a question about whether the austrian chancellor is one of france's toughest opponents for having criticized why the taxes of an austrian hairdresser should help other european countries clemeir replied we don't have any opponents in europe only different opinions furthermore austrian hairdressers don't have to pay for the recovery fund it will be paid by the european commission which will take a joint debt at an extremely favorable interest rate and finally the hairdresser will benefit from this clever financial arrangement because it will ensure that she will continue to have a large number of customers but with the uk's departure there will certainly be a considerable power shift here all of this is down to the principle of the blocking minority in the words of the european council themselves when the council votes on a proposal by the european commission or high representatives of the union for foreign affairs and security policy a qualified majority is reached if two conditions are met 55 percent of member states vote in favor in practice this means 15 out of 27 and the proposal is supported by member states representing at least 65 percent of the total eu population in turn a proposal could be blocked by a blocking minority consisting of at least four council members representing 35 of the eu's population professor john ryan visiting fellow at lse ideas a foreign policy think tank in the london school of economics highlighted this power shift with brexit the centre of gravity in europe has now shifted southwards in the european parliament but above all in the council with the uk as a member the north defined as germany sweden denmark finland ireland and the netherlands had a blocking minority of 36.8 without the uk this has dropped to 27.8 too small for a veto even with austria and the baltics included the north can now be overruled as well as this geographic power shift the uk's departure also causes a second power shift when it comes to opt-outs for many the uk's departure allows europe to speed up its integration flight path deepening the single currency the eu 19 eurozone member states before brexit consisted of 66.6 percent of the eu's population but now accounts for 76.5 percent making a blocking minority nigh impossible for non-euro member states the worry being that the economic and monetary union will slowly but surely consolidate over time now that a major opponent and euro opt-out has left the freedom to speed up integration in europe may never actually be deployed the uk was after all a staunch defender of liberalism in the internal market in the early days of the union driving forward a reduction in internal barriers between member states the loss of the uk's influence could make further market liberalization especially when it comes to the so-called digital single market much harder as the center for european reform puts it france and germany which have always supported liberalization will have proportionately more weight post-brexit eu competition policy will probably change post-brexit france and germany have proposed that it should take greater account of the competition from u.s and chinese corporate giants and facilitate rather than obstruct the creation of pan-european champions able to compete with them this interventionist approach has long been viewed with skepticism by the uk the commission and pro-liberalisation states will resist but without the uk they will probably lose so what do you think is a uk-free eu liberated or handicapped let us know your thoughts in the comments below and as always you can continue the conversation over on discord be sure to subscribe the channel for more updates as we've released further videos and hit the bell icon to be notified every time we post you can also find more from us across all social networks simply by searching for tldr news special thanks to our patreon backers who make videos like this one possible

Channel: TLDR News EU

Views: 181,383

Keywords:

Id: KvM-gD6UAHg

Length: 10min 43sec (643 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 18 2020