Off Topic The Politics Thread

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Should the UK remain a part of the EU or leave?

  • Stay in

    Votes: 56 47.9%

  • Get out

    Votes: 61 52.1%
  • Total voters
    117
  • Poll closed .
GoldhawkRd said:
What has Spain to gain be making this announcement now? There's the precious income Spain gains from all those Brit pensioners, but more than that, a cynic might suggest Spain is intent on currying favour with the international community on the threshold of what it is about to do in Catalonia. A bit unsettling.
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Spain stood beside the UK during the Scottish referendum, and repeatedly said they would not veto Scotlands membership of the EU or EuroZone as an independant country, citing that this would only encourage Catalan unrest - I would imagine that they now want reciprocal support from the UK with respect to any potential application from the Catalan government. The UK could possibly profit from this alliance in the Brexit negotiations.
 
Steelmonkey said:
Spain stood beside the UK during the Scottish referendum, and repeatedly said they would not veto Scotlands membership of the EU or EuroZone as an independant country, citing that this would only encourage Catalan unrest - I would imagine that they now want reciprocal support from the UK with respect to any potential application from the Catalan government. The UK could possibly profit from this alliance in the Brexit negotiations.
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Yes, after some dithering, Spain said they would not oppose Scotland's membership of the EU although said Scotland would have to go to the end of the queue of applications.

I would guess the UK will no longer by a member of the EU by the time an "independent Catalonia" applies to join the EU/Eurozone. Independence will not come easily. I would hope that the Catalans would be given a legally binding independence referendum as the Scots were, but I have this feeling, Madrid's reaction might simply be to send in the troops and install a puppet regional government in Catalonia. At worst, we could be looking at civil war, with the EU still refusing to become involved in the internal affairs of a member state.
 
GoldhawkRd said:
Yes, after some dithering, Spain said they would not oppose Scotland's membership of the EU although said Scotland would have to go to the end of the queue of applications.

I would guess the UK will no longer by a member of the EU by the time an "independent Catalonia" applies to join the EU/Eurozone. Independence will not come easily. I would hope that the Catalans would be given a legally binding independence referendum as the Scots were, but I have this feeling, Madrid's reaction might simply be to send in the troops and install a puppet regional government in Catalonia. At worst, we could be looking at civil war, with the EU still refusing to become involved in the internal affairs of a member state.
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Do you want the EU to become involved? Serious question, it’s not clear to me.
 
sb_73 said:
Do you want the EU to become involved? Serious question, it’s not clear to me.
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If there is a risk of serious violence, then the EU might use its good offices to mediate. I imagine there are already pressures behind the scenes.

Not much has been said about the Basque region, but that must be watching carefully too, given some factions' militant history in search of independent statehood, ETA etc
 
GoldhawkRd said:
If there is a risk of serious violence, then the EU might use its good offices to mediate. I imagine there are already pressures behind the scenes.

Not much has been said about the Basque region, but that must be watching carefully too, given some factions' militant history in search of independent statehood, ETA etc
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The Spanish government is making Cameron look like a top rank statesman. I don’t think the Catalonian separatists are doing themselves any favours. Any agency that can influence to ensure this is a peaceful discussion should do their bit.

My understanding is based entirely on what a small number of English speaking, professional Catalonians from Barcelona have said to me - maximum autonomy but no real desire for independence. What I didn’t realise is that outside Barcelona Catalan really is the only language spoken, people only read Catalan newspapers, listen to Catalan radio and watch Catalan TV, and they only get one side of the story, they have no idea of what the Spanish position is,
 
Lewis Hamilton indicating that he will take the knee during during the national anthem if he wins the US GP this evening. He didn’t during the US anthem in the build up to the race.
 
Stroller said:
Let's hope he does then.
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He doesn’t. Wonder what he was on about. Perhaps he’ll say something in the post race chat on the podium. ****ing hell Usain Bolt doing the interviews.
Hamilton makes no kind of controversial comments, quite the reverse, bigging up the US crowd on behalf of the Sports owners.
 
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I think if the Spanish Government clamp down too hard on the Catalonian people they will be digging themselves a big hole. The thing will cause many problems with the EU. Let's see how quickly the UK voice of support changes?

EU swings behind Madrid in escalating Catalan crisis
This was a headline from a paper. It has now referred to as a "crisis".
 
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