I never said that it was difficult (or if I said it, apologies since its the wrong term). I only said that its lengthy. It take time for 27 countries to come out with a consensus. I mean look at the UK. There's arguments everyday and TM is having to face a new issue from Scotland, gibraltar or Northern Ireland every fortnight. That despite these regions has as much administrative power as Napoleon had when he was in St Helens.
However change does happen and its happening in front of our eyes. I remember when Malta first argued about the problem of immigration. Jeez we had Malmstorm coming to Malta calling everyone a racist, simply because we dared saying that the Dublin 2 treaty is crap. These days everyone agrees with it and countries barely enforce the Dublin 2 treaty anymore (apart from the Brits of course, who love immigrants as long as they are far away from Blighty). Hopefully in the next few years this treaty will be thrown in the very bin it belongs too.
I think Cameron's failure to obtain what he'd hoped for when trying to negotiate a better deal with the EU (before the referendum), opened peoples eyes to how little influence we have in Brussels. And so I think we are both agreeing here that Cameron had mis sold the referendum choice, as there would be little hope of reform. There's actually a greater chance of reform as a result of us voting to leave, because of the consequences. Had Brussels known what the result of the referendum had been, and the consequences of it, we may have got a better arrangement.
And I hope its a massive success. However any country will consider the strategy of closing the door (or cover it with redtape and tariffs) to the continent that very country belongs to as madness. Trump toyed with the idea when he threatened to scrap the NAFTA deal and he backtracked from that furiously.
The deal the UK has with the EU is unprecedented and allow all sort of business to prosper that wont be able to do so if the UK wasn't part of the EU. For example car parts from all over Europe can move freely in and out of the UK to be used to manufacture cars in UK plants and then sold the EU. That can only be achieved because
a- the UK is in close proximity of Europe. Its not worth for a UK company to buy parts from lets say Australia
b- the EU allows unrestricted access to its markets.
The UK would not pay tariffs on what it buys, and therefore car parts could freely come into the country from anywhere in the world as long as they align with EU regulations. What we export to the EU could be hit with tariffs, but as already stated, this could be offset by the membership fees no longer paid.
Not to forget that EU membership allows access to non EU markets (ie trade deals signed by the EU) which were signed from a position of strength. That will soon be gone (for the UK).
Surely the UK can try to sign trade deals and I bet it will be able to sign quite a few of them. However I am a bit sceptical whether they will be as effective as EU membership in terms of access and geography. Please bear in mind that the 3 biggest markets in the world (India, China and the US) happen to be way more protective then the EU.
We'll have to wait and see. At this moment in time we don't even know what kind of arrangement we'll have with the EU.
However, let's say that we strike a free trade deal with the US, and we are able to import a good percentage of American cars and trucks. This creates thousands of jobs in America, boosts their economy, and gives us more competitive options. Everyone's a winner. If the EU can't be this reasonable because they insist on free movement of people, it is their fault for hindering the prosperity of their member states..
Malta was the most bombed country during WW2. One of my grandparents died during the war and the rest nearly starved to death. All Maltese citizens who survived the mess were granted the George Cross for Valour. However it would be crazy to say that Malta or the UK were able to defeat the Nazis. The Nazis were hammering us until the US entered war and were defeated in Russia by Russians. We're lucky that Mr Mad man decided to invade them instead of us or else we would be defeated in a spectacularly humiliated way
The same will happen if Mr Putin decided to invade Europe (UK included) and Mr Trump decides to close an eye to it.
A country that's fought against an evil regime with everything it has, should not be considered as being bailed out when it receives help. Let's not forget the fact that America didn't enter the war out of hatred for the nazis and pity for us, Japan attacked the US, and it was Germany that declared war on America. They didn't come to our rescue, they joined us in a cause that was right.
That's the thing. Trade and defense are two totally different matters altogether. One can agree on one and disagree on the other. The US had been Europe's biggest ally for most of last century. Europe trade deal with the US is not close to EU membership. Now if you mix the two then you're risking ending up isolated further. It would also mean that Europe will have no choice but to proceed to a common EU army which would make the UK even less important
Sentiments between nations will affect cooperation. It's a fact of life.
There's no doubt that the US (or any other country for all that matter) will sit down with the UK (or any other country for all that matter) to discuss trade deals. The EU itself had committed itself to that. However the devil is in the detail. What will be offered? Under such circumstances the big fish tend to eat the small fish. For example Switzerland had to commit itself to open its market to China immediately. However China reserved the right to delay the Swiss entrance to certain market for years and sometimes decades.
The UK was extremely important for the US because through the UK, the US had a meaningful vote (+ a veto) in Europe. Now that is gone.
Well let's see. We do not know how things will pan out. As you have said, you would like to see us prosper massively by trading globally free of EU restriction. This is what we're aiming for.