MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
UK starts Brexit negotiations from a weakened position
Talks between the United Kingdom and the European Union to finalise Britain's exit from the continental block started Monday in Brussels, about one year after Britons voted that their country is to leave the bloc by March 30, 2019. But Europe is determined to set an example so that other countries will not be attracted to the idea, even if it includes leaving an open door for Britain to stay. Read full article
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Disclaimer & comment rulesThe EU included the Clause that a member State may leave the Union, so there should be no spite involved. Such a negative process would be counter-productive, eventually leading to some member states believing that the democratic aspirations of the EU were merely cosmetic.
Jun 19th, 2017 - 04:54 pm - Link - Report abuse +1Naturally the negotiations will be difficult; a pile or mountain of legislation to navigate through. Also, the EU will not be better off emphasising the leadership of France and Germany as principle movers and shakers, although the media is talking that up... Germany and France are not the EU in themselves. Other states will be watching, and will reflect on their own possible fate as the negotiations proceed. There will be unknown factors arising, so it will be messy at times. Just thinking.
The above article has been written by a journalist who has clearly been misled be certain events. He/she does not seem to be aware of the resilience of the British.
Jun 19th, 2017 - 07:53 pm - Link - Report abuse -1There is a lot of nonsense expressed in this piece.
The spite has mainly been created by the UK's utter delusion about what it can demand out of this process, and the pile of threats its government has made (tax haven, expel immigrants, walk out, race to the bottom...), and because you have dragged your feet for well over a year now, and even after invoking the Article you still are procrastinating.
Jun 20th, 2017 - 01:31 am - Link - Report abuse -1And to top it off, your country has devolved into 4th world status in a matter of weeks. If the current state of affairs in the UK was happening in Argentina (terrorist bombings, vigilante reprisals, mobs trying to lynch criminals, currency down 20%, inflation up, two elections and two PMs in one year, burning buildings with inadequate fire systems, deficient government reaction).. you will all be gloating and writing posts after posts of how underdeveloped we are.
The question is why is this piece appearing in Mercopenguin, a propaganda organ supposedly devoted to America, South America and the “South Atlantic”?
Jun 20th, 2017 - 04:52 am - Link - Report abuse -3The article is appearing because the UK will be the fourth biggest economy in the world within the next 25 years despite only having a population a fraction of the size of others.
Jun 20th, 2017 - 06:36 am - Link - Report abuse +1Big feet = small brain QED!
@Hepatia why are you here? Why do even exist?
Jun 20th, 2017 - 08:41 am - Link - Report abuse +2CR
Jun 20th, 2017 - 03:36 pm - Link - Report abuse +1Does she even exist ?
Well - my name for her/him/it is HEPATITIS - a debilitating disease!
Jun 20th, 2017 - 05:37 pm - Link - Report abuse 0The Brexit Bunch who obsess this site is soo influential they must monopolize the commentary reveal paperweight bravado while their UK breaks apart over a number of years as it descends like the financial leaf in the forest it will be to land softly on the bottom, nestling anew with their new ilk, the economic powerhouses of the Balkans. They refuse to contemplate, by the time they get their heads handed to them in Brussels and sent on their bankrupt way, that once the voters get a whiff of what May & the Cons have “accomplished” they will leap into the arms of even Corbyn to protect the newly-further-impoverished from the ever-looming poorhouse. ALL the indicators point thus. ONLY the delusional Brexiteers imagine otherwise, as they must, to avoid the reality their febrile imaginations are as worthless as their economic futures within the confines of the to-be-ex-UK.
Jun 20th, 2017 - 07:23 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Gordo1, he is called a “ thrush ” an irritating c**nt
Jun 20th, 2017 - 07:33 pm - Link - Report abuse +1NativeAngeleno
Jun 20th, 2017 - 08:48 pm - Link - Report abuse 0You could be wrong. Just because you wish it fervently does not mean it will happen.
Which Troll were you before you acquired a new name ?
Of the two pictures, who looks the happiest the German or the Brit? I rest my case your honour.
Jun 20th, 2017 - 10:54 pm - Link - Report abuse 0re Clyde 15, I so did NOT wish the UK to begin the long swirl around the drain which ANY Leave voter could have avoided with a little self-education. I was shocked the UK (make that England and Wales) could be so masochistic. I had thought those voters at least smarter than US Trump voters until they informed me they indeed took the prize of dumbest electorate on Earth from even the Americans. Beyond my wishes, they enthusiastically pulled the trigger of the gun they held to their own heads. So no, i did not “wish” their future to be so. Leave voters did, in an uncaring paroxysm of anger, flailing against the world to the point of mass self-injury. Their future standard of living cannot avoid being stunted, as all indications point, as opposed to the fantastic fables of the rosy future of those refusing to face reality. It is only wheeler-dealers in the Brexit camp who will be able to personally profit from this grotesquerie, while tens of millions of their countrymen suffer. They still lead the shallow and superficial to sleepwalk in their ridiculous fantasies without having a clue how they can avoid being mangled by this travesty once it concludes, other than by fleeing the country to prosper outside it, most likely in the EU, as refugees from bad economics do. Or are you yet unaware of the concessions already granted to Brussels by the high and mighty spouters of lies who promised the reverse to the suckers who still believe. You have been gypped of your future while being handed a lesser UK.
Jun 20th, 2017 - 11:59 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I know, and Argentina is going to rule the Falklands in 25years.
Jun 21st, 2017 - 02:42 am - Link - Report abuse +1As all “indications” point, of course.
Another freeloading basement dweller suffering from diarrhea of the mouth.
You sound like a North Korean newspaper.
NA
Jun 21st, 2017 - 10:10 am - Link - Report abuse +1There are so many variables in Brexit that NO ONE can predict the effect it will have on the UK AND the EU. I haven't a clue and neither do you.
Whatever happens the EU will have to re-organise itself and be more democratic instead of letting Germany/France bulldoze their vision on the remaining member states.
I saw a poll on satisfaction with the EU and saw, to my surprise that people in Germany and France were more dissatisfied with the EU than the UK
Clyde
Jun 21st, 2017 - 11:23 am - Link - Report abuse 0NA is only stating what a lot of people are thinking that hardly makes him a troll...
He also may be right...the UK are already suffering economically...do you see it improving in the near future...?
@ NativeAngeleno
Jun 21st, 2017 - 01:27 pm - Link - Report abuse +1Remember the silver lining = £350.000.000 a week saved to finance the NHS. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sz2tvnVM6oA&t=2m54s
Oh! they ain't there? but the Brexit fanatics promised they would be there
bushpilot : Yours is just another monolithic kneejerk responder who assumes that if an argument disagrees with you on one issue it ipso facto must disagree with you on all issues. You live in a black & white medieval warfare fantasy of us vs them. WRONG. You pretend to see without thinking some pretense of an indication that a trend oints to Argentinian rule. My attitude is very simple, i am on the side of democracy as paracticed by the inhabitants of the place in question. Their choice is what counts, not their proximity to a larger land nearby. Those who live on the Falklands are free to align with any nation's foreign policy they desire, period end. Likewise Gibralter. Both Argentina and Spain have had centuries to colonize and maintain a population on both islands and have not cared a whit to do so. First Great Britain and now the UK have. Either nation, Argentina and Spain, could have easily outnumbered the current residents if they'd wanted to, but instead have taken the lazy way out and simply tried to rule by dint of proximity to their own nation. For me that doesn't cut it. If the Spanish ever tried to get more or even some Spaniards on Gibralter, they only need less than 35,000, it would take a year before they could outvote the inhabitants as to their foreign policy attachments. The people of such small islands have the right to their own representation, which is consistent with and holds btw with the case India made in rejecting British rule. If you see it that way you are on the right side of democracy. If the Falkands ever become majority Argentinians, they become the Malvinas, and no one logically could tell them they they couldn't. And btw all indications re Brexit DO point to massive pain and suffering for the people of the UK which could easily break apart under the strain, ACCORDING TO THE SAME PRINCIPLE OF DEMOCRATIC RULE that rightly currently keeps the Falklands British.
Jun 21st, 2017 - 03:43 pm - Link - Report abuse -1Oh do point us in the right direction “ all indications re Brexit point to a massive pain ” Pray tell me Sir where are you getting this information from?
Jun 21st, 2017 - 05:03 pm - Link - Report abuse -1I'd like to know more about all those “indications” too.
Jun 21st, 2017 - 05:49 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Are you sure you aren't giving all those “indications” a bit more weight than they deserve because you are pro-socialist?
“My attitude is very simple, i am on the side of democracy as practiced by the inhabitants of the place in question.”
Unless a majority vote disagrees with your ideology. Then they're “dumb” and need to “self-educate”. Now that is what I call being “pro-democracy”.
Are you sure you're not the real idiot, going around calling everyone else idiots.
Voice
Jun 21st, 2017 - 05:54 pm - Link - Report abuse 0He is ONLY stating what a lot of people are thinking. Yes, and a lot of people are thinking otherwise but most people haven't a clue.
It will be a decade until we can see what the LASTING effect will be.
I don't yet think it is time to emulate Cassandra !
Clyde 15 : You claim correctly to “lack all clues” what will happen after you cut ties to your largest trading partner, the continent you abut, to be renegoitated to your detriment and to their advantage because you have no leverage in your lonesome economic war against 27 other nations, but i, unlike you, have that “clue”. Inasmuch as you have proven you can read, suggest you peek out under your Brexit-reaffirming rock, begin to read critical financial analysis of Brexit and stop sucking on the teat of the con artists you exclusively ape simply because they tell you stories and myths you want to believe like a naive fool. You actually believe Theresa May about anything?! Or Farange? Or the rest of her braintrust who giggled as they cut safety regulations in firetraps? You are of the faithfool expecting economic improvement from Brexit? You will get immigration control, except for those already inside, but at the loss of entire industries which will avoid losses in international nusiness by transferring to Paris or Berlin, as well as the loss of intelligent young British workers who will abandon the sinking ship to work inside the EU instead.You will lose EU monies supporting NHS and English universities which you will not find replaced by London when the economy won't be able to. New tariffs slapping you every which way, cutting down your trade, will make it harder to sell overseas and will make what you want from overseas more expensive. The Japanese have decided to transfer their English auto plants to EU nations, starting a Brexitting of employment as well. You've just been hit with the reality that EU assets to the UK's financial benefit will not only be transferred out of London onto the continent but you will be stuck with the bill of such transfer of contracts to the tune of 60 billion unnegotiable euros either paid upfront or taken out of your hide over 10 or 20 years through fat EU tariffs WITH interest. This is all EASILY intuited and in fact has begun.
Jun 21st, 2017 - 07:58 pm - Link - Report abuse -2Now , If I were part of the negociating team I would ask the EU BEFORE we hand over any Exit fees to audit their accounts and actually see where all the money has gone.You may not like this but I am sure you will find that the UK hands over considerable amounts of money to prop up the EU. Greece for instance has over the years been given 80 billion Euros to stop them becoming insolvent. As I said before we need to see an audit.
Jun 21st, 2017 - 09:23 pm - Link - Report abuse 0NA
Jun 22nd, 2017 - 09:21 am - Link - Report abuse +1Where have I said I was a pro-brexiteer ? Where have I said that I believed a word that Mrs. May or that twat Farage have said ? Not FARANGE as you put it.
Have Toyota, Nissan, R.R. ,Bentley et al confirmed that they will be closing down their plants and relocating to the EU.?
You are looking at the worst possible scenario and extrapolating this to the doom of the UK.
Sorry, but I don't buy that one !
You make the EU sound like a paradise. They still have to sort out Italy's debt....and Greece. If they can't do that then the Euro will go kerplonk !
You mention “EU monies” will be cut off. What a bloody laugh ! Where do they get this money.....a difficult one that. Let me see...OH yes, the excessive contributions the UK make to the EU. We contribute a lot more than we receive back...or have I missed something ?
When I say we, I don't include you as you don't appear to be British. Your diatribe is practically unreadable and comes across as one sentence. Almost the same as an Argentinian schoolmaster who used to lecture us on the Falklands with his startling insight !
NativeAngeleno
Jun 22nd, 2017 - 11:13 am - Link - Report abuse 0You... not being British and unfamiliar with Britain, you probably will not realise that Clyde (a clue in the name) is Scottish and Scotland was not pro Brexit...
Likely he voted either remain or didn't vote...
The Guardian passes on mire reality today to MercoPress' Brexit lovers whose heads are firmly embedded in their rear ends:
Jun 23rd, 2017 - 06:20 am - Link - Report abuse -2“Here’s what the Brexit vote has delivered. The pound has touched historic lows, squeezing household finances. Inflation has hit a four-year high and, for cash savers, that combined with lower interest rates means the money you bank is losing its buying power. While blue-chip companies that can depend on foreign earnings have been insulated, businesses with a UK focus have had chunks taken out of their share price, and farms using European migrant labour are already finding themselves short of much-needed seasonal workers – they are still eligible to come, but many now see Britain as xenophobic.”
farms using European migrant labour are already finding themselves short of much-needed seasonal workers – they are still eligible to come, but many now see Britain as xenophobic.”
Jun 23rd, 2017 - 09:58 am - Link - Report abuse +2The main reason is that the fall in the pound makes the UK less financially attractive to migrant workers.
There was a program on BBC yesterday interviewing East European workers and that seemed to be their main concern. As the send money home they effectively get less Euros in exchange.
“mire reality” ....did you mean more?
yes. more actual reality as opposed to naive pie in the sky.
Jun 23rd, 2017 - 01:29 pm - Link - Report abuse -1To the Brexiters: what do you think about the UN vote to send the dispute over the Chagos Islands to the ICJ against the UK's wishes? Most of the EU countries abstained instead of supporting the UK; according to the press it's a sign that we have already lost influence at the UN.
Jun 23rd, 2017 - 02:36 pm - Link - Report abuse -1Who cares, the EU are showing their true colours almost every day. Confirms the majority decision that we are better off without them. Royal Ascot, Henley Royal Regatta, and Wimbledon coming up, the sun has been shining the strawberries are sweet. Who cares about the UN either... We haven't lost influence, we never had much anyway, it's an expected result. Apparently the ICJ result only has moral force and the UN confirms we already lost so no change there then. Great to see whingers having such a hard time...
Jun 23rd, 2017 - 03:55 pm - Link - Report abuse +1Today, 23 May, Reuters:
Jun 23rd, 2017 - 05:20 pm - Link - Report abuse -3BERLIN (Reuters) – German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said on Friday that Britons were lied to during the campaign before the Brexit referendum last year and he lashed out at those behind the ‘Out’ campaign for not taking responsibility when they won.
Speaking at an event for family-run companies on the first anniversary of the Brexit vote, Schaeuble said: “In the Brexit campaign, the Britons were endlessly lied to and deceived and when they happened to be successful, the ones who did that ran away because they said they can’t take responsibility for that.”
Hence dozens of the hopelessly deluded cling to exhibiting their shortcomings on this site.
Denial then. That's about what I expected from the brave Brexit voters.
Jun 23rd, 2017 - 05:22 pm - Link - Report abuse -2Native twat, spot on! We were endlessly lied to in the 1970s which is why so many of us voted to get out in 2016. We ain't stupid and it wasn't what it said on the tin.
Jun 23rd, 2017 - 07:41 pm - Link - Report abuse +1Anyhow Radiohead have released some new tracks, the Foo Fighters released Run https://youtu.be/ifwc5xgI3QM and Slowdive are back! The 90s live! These are things of importance.
Voicecunt, we're always endlessly lied to, but this one you swallowed like the stupid person, yes, you are.
Jun 23rd, 2017 - 09:38 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Even Radiohead would inform you a short steep descent into 2nd world status is also important, at least to adults or other people who eat for a living. Of course your childish smartass wouldn't know that.
btw Clyde doesn't write like he's Scot (Remain) and is also an English name too, which politically he's more like, dope.
@TV
Jun 23rd, 2017 - 10:43 pm - Link - Report abuse -1Deeeeniiiaaal.
@NativeAngeleno
How do you think Scots write? Anyway it doesn't matter, people from all over the UK voted both ways. Why don't you just ask him which way he voted instead of assuming?
NativeAngeleno
Jun 23rd, 2017 - 10:46 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Don't be confusing me with THE VOICE...
Clyde is not an English name...it's from Gaelic...
“This surname originated in Celtic times, and was used in Scotland and Ulster as a name for people who lived by the banks of the River Clyde, which flows through Glasgow. The origin of the river's name comes from the gaelic name ”Cluaidh“, the original meaning of which is now unclear.”
It so happens that Clyde15 was born in the small village of Strone off the Clyde estuary...
How does a Scot write...?
As for me being a dope...I can tell the difference between Voice and The Voice...can you...?
Native twat, don't confuse me with Voice, he lives in a damp part of Scotland, claims he plays the pipes and often wears a skirt.
Jun 24th, 2017 - 07:11 am - Link - Report abuse 0If we Brits do descend to 2nd world status that might be good. Simpler lives might suit many of us.
At the moment focus here is on music, Barbie's in the sun, summer events and holidays. Only the sad and lonely obsess about politics.
NA
Jun 24th, 2017 - 09:46 am - Link - Report abuse 0What does a Scot write like ? Depends who the Scot is. Sir Walter Scott, Iain Banks, George MacDonald Fraser, Lewis Grassic Gibbons, Neil Munro or Hugh MacDiarmid.
They all have different literary styles. Should I be saying hoots mon, och aye the noo, crivens, help ma boab.
I try to write in English and be grammatically correct. I like clarity of thought with no ambiguity as I don't like guessing or interpreting what people write...probably a throw back to schooling in the 1940's/50's and my working life where I could be nailed to the wall if I did not report accurately how I had arrived at my decisions.
To think that I believed any of the self-seeking politicians prior to the vote is entirely wrong.
My dealings with them have led me to believe that the majority are professional liars with a few exceptions.
As for you, there is something about your posts that indicate to me that you are not a “native Brit.” I could be wrong. Would you care to enlighten us ?
Whatever we may think, our upbringing does influence our attitude to external events and makes us feel at a visceral level rather than a logical one.
When I hear Germans criticising my country I think of WW2 and their actions although logically it has nothing to do with that.
Clyde
Jun 24th, 2017 - 11:44 am - Link - Report abuse +1Native Angeleno usually means a native of Los Angeles...
Though the ID no. seems to be from the same period as the appearance of Chronic...not exactly the same no, but close...not unknown for folk to have more than one ID...
Could be purposely feigning ignorance of the ID of posters, though it should be difficult to confuse Voice with The Voice by the pic...The Voice is the one with the big mouth...;-)
Not conclusive I agree, but coincidental that Chronic was also a Yank that delighted in attacking the UK...
Just another moron spitting anti British bile who writes like he/she has a foot in its mouth, who cares... I Think many such idiots are insanely jealous of Britain and have a totally out of date vision of us. It makes me smile. From the coachloads of Germans on Midsomer Murders tours around here, to the rapturous welcome our artists and bands receive all around the world British culture is out there big time.
Jun 24th, 2017 - 01:27 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Strawberries and cream really special now at Ascot.
Jun 24th, 2017 - 09:34 pm - Link - Report abuse 0@The Voice
Jun 25th, 2017 - 12:37 am - Link - Report abuse 0You purposely created an account with nearly the same name as Voice, and even had the same picture until he threatened you into changing it. So don't bother complaining about people confusing the two of you.
You do realise the 2nd world was the Communist countries right? I didn't see you as a Corbyn supporter!
Also I notice one of my comments has two downvotes. It seems at least one Brexit voter wasn't even brave enough to reply.
@Voice
He doesn't sound like Chronic to me, although there is something familiar about the style. Who knows.
You stupid little boys, there are Englishmen named CLYDE. That makes it also an ENGLISH NAME. This has to be explained to you incredibly retarded fools? Yeah, it does.
Jun 26th, 2017 - 07:25 am - Link - Report abuse -1Another unbelievably stupid thing you dumb Brits can't grasp: When a Scot writes from a pro-Brexit pov, he doesn't exhibit his personal stupidity LIKE A NORMAL SANE “REMAIN” SCOT WOULD, he writes more like AN ENGLISH “LEAVE” TWAT, YOU FUCKING DUMB CUNTS. Sir Walter Fucking Scott! No wonder you're too stupid to understand Brexit is your economic Waterloo. You're mentally children and very low IQ'd children at that. Go ahead, be my guest, Die along with Brexit, please, you shit for brains morons.
There are Americans named Clyde. That makes it also an AMERICAN NAME...
Jun 26th, 2017 - 09:12 am - Link - Report abuse 0There are Canadians named Clyde. That makes it also a CANADIAN NAME..
There was an Orangutan named Clyde. That makes it also a MONKEY NAME...
...it's a Scottish name no matter who uses it...ya dope...
NA
Jun 26th, 2017 - 10:13 am - Link - Report abuse 0You seem to be rather emotional in your posts which would indicate a Hispanic/Latino background. Also, I would back my IQ against yours any day.
Let me explain it simply for you as you can't seem to grasp the context.
I use the posting name of Clyde because it is easy for me to remember and I chose it because I was born next to the estuary..(Firth)...where it meets the sea. In Glasgow, I lived
800 yards from the river and now I am back living close to the Clyde Estuary.
My parents were born in Scotland from Scottish non-immigrant stock as far back as we can trace and that is to the 18th century. By our family names they go back to when written records began. So that makes me Scottish/British. Even if I was English, Irish or Welsh it would not matter to me.
Being my usual pedantic self, Clyde is a name of Scottish origin USED by Americans, Canadians and various other ex colonies. Not a name indigenous to any other region or country. Also an orangutan is an ape not a monkey.
As to Brexit being Armageddon for the UK, I don't know how it will turn out. You seem to think that you have a special insight into the matter BUT you could be wrong.
Come back in 2019 and see how it has turned out.
If you wish to be taken seriously instead of another anti British foul mouthed Troll.
Post something that can be understood
“When a Scot writes from a pro-Brexit pov, he doesn't exhibit his personal stupidity LIKE A NORMAL SANE “REMAIN” SCOT WOULD, he writes more like AN ENGLISH “LEAVE” TWAT, YOU FUCKING DUMB CUNTS.”
That is just a meaningless rant revealing a rather unpleasant hysterical personality..
Clyde
Jun 26th, 2017 - 11:46 am - Link - Report abuse 0Well, if you want to do pedantic...
“Apes are monkeys in the same way that monkeys are primates, humans are apes and I am a human – it’s called a nested hierarchy.
This means that all apes are monkeys, but not all monkeys are apes. Just as all humans are apes, but not all apes are human”
https://paoloviscardi.com/2011/04/21/apes-are-monkeys-deal-with-it/
NativeAngeleno appears to be more interested in insulting Britain in general and posters here in particular than having any kind of debate about Brexit. Disappointing.
Jun 26th, 2017 - 01:14 pm - Link - Report abuse 0@Voice
Most dictionaries say that apes are not monkeys. Words mean what we use them to mean, whether that forms a neat nested hierarchy or not.
Voice
Jun 26th, 2017 - 06:59 pm - Link - Report abuse 0If you are happy to call an Orangutan a monkey, fair enough. A case could be made for it, but I prefer to stick with the zoologists and taxonomists definition of an Orangutan as a Great Ape. This is the common parlance for it and until they change their minds I will stick with it..
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