To Brexit or not to Brexit: that is the question. Though this be Brexit, yet there is method in‘t.  Can one desire too much of a Brexit? The thing we call a Brexit would be just the same if we called it by any other name. Despite the badly quoted bits of Shakespeare, people do wonder: should the United Kingdom leave the European Union? What is the thought behind it? Do people think too much of it? And why did people come up with such a lame and catchy name for this? Some of these questions, and more, will be answered.

Qu’est-ce qu’est un Brexit?

The word ‘Brexit’ is a contraction of the words Britain and exit, and refers to a possible event of the UK, colloquially dubbed Britain, to leave or exit the European Union. This decision will be submitted to the British public in a nonbinding referendum on Thursday, the 23^rd of June 2016, meaning that British Members of the Parliament could block a Brexit. Regardless of a possible block, British, Irish and Commonwealth citizens over 18, who are resident in the UK, UK nationals living abroad, and members of the House of Lords and Commonwealth citizens in Gibraltar can vote on polling day on the following question, “Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union?”.

Doctor ehm… Politician Who?

The British public seems to be quite evenly split on the matter of leaving the EU. The same goes for the MPs of the ruling Conservative Party in the UK Parliament. The UK Independence Party (UKIP), who won 12.6% of the popular vote in the 2015 UK General Elections, is in favour of secession, just as several MPs of the Labour Party, the largest opposition party, and of the right-wing Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) (Wheeler).

While the Conservative Party has pledged to remain neutral in the referendum campaign, British Prime Minister and leader of the Conservatives, David Cameron, has come out in support for staying in the EU. The Labour Party, Scottish National Party (SNP), Liberal Democrats (Lib Dems) and Plaid Cymru (Party of Wales), being the second, third, fourth and seventh largest parties in the UK, have all spoken out in favour of staying in the EU. The EU, not willing to see its second largest economy leave the Union, would also not want the UK to leave (Wheeler).

ACTOR (amazed): Why?

The two main arguments in Britain for leaving the EU centre on economics and border security. Pro-secession groups state that the EU imposes too many rules on businesses and charges billions of pounds annually in membership fees, which both reduce, if not cripple, economic output in Britain. Another big issue is the EUs relatively loose restrictions on travel between its member countries. The pro-secession camp advocates stronger borders for the UK and more direct control of those borders by the UK government (Wheeler).

The two main British arguments for staying in the EU, also centre around economics and border security. Anti-secession groups point out that it is economically more beneficent to stay in the EU, because of free-trade agreements between member states and those between the EU and non-member countries (Wheeler).

Regarding border security, some British politicians point out the importance of collectively managing the flow of immigrants throughout the EU. Others point out that staying in the EU is critical in order to maintain the British border control in Calais, France. This is crucial, because the UK is not obligated to provide asylum to people who are not in Britain, like those who are prevented from travelling to Britain at the UK border checkpoint in Calais (Wintour).
David Chameleon

British Prime Minister, David Cameron, had initially resisted calls for a ‘Brexit referendum’, but changed his mind in 2013 due to the level of influence of EU policies in Britain. After the Conservatives won the UK General Election in 2015, they pushed for a referendum, which started negotiations between the UK and the EU.

Cameron has recently made a deal with the other EU member states that will go into effect should Britain vote for staying in the EU (Wheeler). This deal gives the UK more control over its own border security, limits further influence of EU regulations on Britain and other member states, and protects UK financial institutions, most notably those in the City of London and the Bank of England. This deal, in turn, has made Prime Minister Cameron argue for staying in the European Union.

The terms of our divorce

If a majority of Britons should vote in favour of leaving the EU, then the United Kingdom would not have seceded on the next day. Even if British MPs would not block the referendum, Article 50 of the EU’s ‘divorce clause’ states that secession from the European Union would be preceded by a two-year negotiation phase (Karnitschnig). As a member state, Britain has signed a lot of treaties with the EU over the years that would require many months of redefining, renegotiation, and rewriting, before any secession could be finalised. However, since a secession from the European Union has never happened before, there are hardly any provisions.

What do the AEGEEans say?

Being a youth forum that advocates for European integration, some AEGEE locals are involved in projects to discuss the ‘Brexit referendum’. AEGEE-Canterbury, as a chief example, has organised a debate regarding the UK’s membership within the EU, and has been actively campaigning for staying in the EU. AEGEE-Manchester, to name another, is trying to organise an event in May that would try to focus on the positive aspects of the relation between the United Kingdom and the European Union.

Written by Willem Laurentzen, AEGEE-Nijmegen

Works Cited

Karnitschnig, Matthew, and Nicholas Hirst. “A long, costly and messy divorce.” Politico 2 Mar. 2016: n. pag. Web. 25 Mar. 2016.

Wheeler, Brian, and Alex Hunt. “The UK’s EU referendum: All you need to know.”BBC 24 Mar. 2016: n. pag. Web. 25 Mar. 2016.

Wintour, Patrick, and Anushka Asthana. “French minister: Brexit would threaten Calais border arrangement.” The Guardian 3 Mar. 2016:n. pag. Web. 25 Mar. 2016.

After several new contacts in Russia and Belgium, on the 19th of December it was announced that AEGEE-Europe is also expanding to England with a new contact in Manchester. The AEGEEan spoke to Pablo Palazón, member of AEGEE-Alicante, to find out more about the newest contact!

Pablo Palazón

Pablo Palazón got in contact with AEGEE in 2013, when he became a member of AEGEE-Alicante. “I went to a Summer University in Torino and became quite active. I ended up being the treasurer of the amazing Summer University of AEGEE-Alicante last year!” However, when he moved to Manchester last August, he noticed that there is a big need for organisations fostering Europtimism in the United Kingdom. “I was missing my AEGEE life so much that I decided to start working on the recovery of this AEGEE experience”, he says. “I had so many AEGEE friends wiling to visit me in Manchester too that I just needed to give them a good reason to come here!”

Bryn French

After Pablo met Bryn French, a member of AEGEE-Durham living in Manchester, the two guys agreed to found an AEGEE contact in Manchester. They got in contact with Domitille Simon, who founded the European Union Society in the University of Manchester some weeks before, and started to work together.  Together with the members that the European Union Society already had, the three are full of plans for the upcoming year. “We want to take advantage of the great opportunities that AEGEE offers, so we would be really happy to send people to European events”, Pablo explains. “We will be focused on recruiting members and activating the ones we already have! We are also planning to organise an event in May and open it to the AEGEE network and our Nordic Stars.”

To attract new members, there are plans to be present at the students’ fair that will take place in January at the University of Manchester. “We will organise interesting local events for members and we also want to have a good Summer University campaign”, Pablo says. “The relationship between the UK and Europe is one that is continually debated here, and we believe we can bring some much needed Europtimism!” Luckily, with help from other AEGEE-locals like AEGEE-Alicante, AEGEE-Dresden, AEGEE-London and AEGEE-Sheffield and support from Jorge Sánchez Hernández and Pablo Hernández, the new contact has more than enough support in order to achieve their plans and bring some Europtimism to the United Kingdom again.

Written by Svenja van der Tol, AEGEE-Nijmegen

Have you ever dated that one person who always made all the decisions for you? That one person who asked for ideas for something to do, but never really seemed to be as interested in your suggestions as he or she was in his or her own? Or have you ever been this kind of person in a relationship yourself? If any of these scenarios rings a bell than you might already know that there is generally one decision all of these kind people never made, breaking-up.

Although a relationship could end for a multitude of reasons, a misrepresentation of both partners in a relationship might be an important one. Whenever a person feels that he or she has no agency over his own life, that is to say to live or make decisions with a sense of free will, that person will likely start to address this discomfort to or even rebel against whatever he or she thinks is responsible for this. In case of couples this might mean that they split up and countries are no exceptions. Scotland, for example might want to change its Facebook status after its referendum for independence from the United Kingdom on the 18th of September. So, will this become the biggest European break-up since Kosovo and Serbia? (Or the biggest since Serbia and Montenegro, should you live anywhere here, as Spain, Slovakia, Belarus, Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Serbia, Greece and Vatican City do not recognize Kosovo as an independent country). Time to answer some questions.

Countries break-up because of misrepresentation… are you for real?

Breaking-up might not be the proper term for it, since countries conscious human beings, however, they are filled with a multitude of people who do have interests. If these feel their government does not represent these interests or even threatens them, they might want to declare independence. Misrepresentation in this case is an often recurring reason. Take for instance this quote from the American declaration of independence, “Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it”.

Why does Scotland want independence now?

Scotland does not, strictly speaking, only now wants to gain a greater autonomy for itself. As far back as the late nineteenth century Scotland has received more autonomy through processes of ‘devolution’. In the late nineteenth century this meant that Scotland would be allowed to tend to some local matters for the first time in almost two hundred years. From the mid-twentieth century onwards Scotland has received more responsibilities and in 1999 it has even got its own parliament. Perhaps in 2014 it will take the first steps of becoming an independent state. For more info on the history of Scottish independence check out this short clip by horrible histories and The One Show.

Why is Scotland part of the UK anyhow?

At the end of the seventeenth century Scotland and England (Wales at the time was a part of England) faced some political trouble. Both countries had different parliaments and different legislatures but the same king for about a hundred years.  However, at this point in history Scotland suffered a tremendous loss of wealth due to an overinvestment in a possible colony in Panama and from trade and navigation blockades from England and other European countries. In response Scotland passed some laws that would allow it to choose its own successor to the Scottish throne, which could mean that Scotland could further untie its bonds with England and seek new alliances with other countries. By uniting both states into the United Kingdom of Great Britain with the Acts of Union in 1707 an attempt was made to solve both problems. For more info check out this link.

What can the Scottish people vote for on 18th September 2014?

In a nutshell the Scottish people can only vote for things to stay as they currently are, that is to say to remain a constituent state with its own devolved parliament, or to opt for independence. However, should the Scottish people vote for independence, a new state is not simply born. Negotiations must be made about how an independent Scotland would look like, how much debt Scotland would own after the independence, what its interest rates would be, which parts of the North Sea are actually part of Scotland and which belong to the rump-UK and whether Scotland would keep the Pound as currency. In short, with independence comes a lot of paperwork.

Why don’t the English [and the Irish and Welsh] get to vote on 18th September?

The best answer that could be found it that democratic representation comes in largely two ways. (Three if you count the communist definition of a one-party people’s democracy) There is direct and indirect representation. Direct representation is the ones the ancient Athenians used in their polis In short it means that you represent by voting on laws directly, similar to what the Scottish people are allowed to do in their referendum. On the other hand there is indirect representation. That’s when the people elect representatives to make and vote on laws on their behalf. It could be said that the English, Welsh and Irish vote for Scottish independence resides in the standpoints that their representatives in Westminster have taken on the issue.

The UK is the only constituent country in Europe, after Scotland there won’t be any countries who want independence, right?

Not quite and no. It is true that the United Kingdom is a constituent country, that is to say a country that is actually a union of other equal countries; England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland for instance form the UK. The United Kingdom is not the only constituent country in Europe; there is also the Danish Realm, the French Fifth Republic and the Kingdom of the Netherlands. However, contrary to the UK these constituent countries are mostly comprised of a mother-country and several overseas territories from the colonial days, mostly in the Caribbean and the Pacific, that these mother-countries have not (yet) parted with.

But that’s it right? There are no other countries left.

There are no countries left, but there are still many autonomous or not-autonomous regions left in Europe. One example is some of the regions formed by the no longer existing kingdom of Aragon on the Iberian Peninsula. Like Scotland it once had its own legislature, monarchy and currency. This country was formed by fusing other Christian kingdoms together during the purge of Islamic rulers from the peninsula in a period called the Reconquista. While the kingdom seized to exist after the marriage of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabelle of Castile (the very same who funded Christopher Columbus’ voyage to the West Indies), its boundaries are still visible within the various red and yellow striped flags of the now autonomous regions of Aragon, Catalonia, Valencia and the Balearic Islands. The most vocally expressed plea for independence, however, is that of the people in the autonomy of Catalonia in north-eastern Spain.

How many European regions want independence?

There are over one hundred different regions in Europe that either already possess a certain degree of autonomy or that aspire independence or a greater sense of autonomy than they already have. Most of which are in Spain, Southern France, Northern Italy, Belgium, the British Isles and Northern Scandinavia.

Written by Willem Laurentzen, AEGEE-Nijmegen

Note: if you are interested in the topic, AEGEE-Europe is sending a group of observers to the Referendum in Scotland tomorrow! You can follow their steps under this link.