How and why in the world did they agree to being a part of the EU in the first place??
You have heard of the allegory of a frog being boiled alive by slowly raising the temperature on the pot? That's kind of what happened here.
There was a series of treaties, each one gradually 'integrating' Europe more tightly together under the EU Brussels pseudo-state.
Treaty of Amsterdam
The
Treaty of Amsterdam, officially the
Treaty of Amsterdam amending the Treaty on European Union, the Treaties establishing the European Communities and certain related acts, was signed on 2 October 1997, and entered into force on 1 May 1999;
[1] it made substantial changes to the
Treaty of Maastricht, which had been signed in 1992.
Under the Treaty of Amsterdam, member states agreed to transfer certain powers from national governments to the
European Parliament across diverse areas, including legislating on immigration, adopting civil and
criminal laws, and enacting
foreign and security policy (CFSP), as well as implementing institutional changes for expansion as new member nations join the EU.
- this is the Treaty the Danes rejected but got to do a do-over till they got it correct, lol.
The
Treaty of Nice was signed by European leaders on 26 February 2001 and came into force on 1 February 2003.
It amended the
Maastricht Treaty (or the Treaty on
European Union) and the
Treaty of Rome (or the Treaty establishing the European Community which, before the Maastricht Treaty, was the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community). The Treaty of Nice reformed the institutional structure of the European Union to withstand eastward expansion, a task which was originally intended to have been done by the
Amsterdam Treaty, but failed to be addressed at the time.
- this was the dirty deed that got EU unification in through the back door.
Prominent changes included the
move from unanimity to qualified majority voting in
at least 45 policy areas in the
Council of Ministers, a change in calculating such a majority to a new
double majority, a more powerful
European Parliament forming a bicameral legislature alongside the Council of Ministers under the
ordinary legislative procedure, a consolidated
legal personality for the EU and the creation of a long-term
President of the European Council and a
High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. The Treaty also made the Union's bill of rights, the
Charter of Fundamental Rights, legally binding. The Treaty for the first time gave member states the explicit legal right to
leave the EU, and established a procedure by which to do so.
The stated aim of the treaty was to "complete the process started by the
Treaty of Amsterdam [1997] and by the
Treaty of Nice [2001] with a view to
enhancing the efficiency and democratic legitimacy of the Union and to improving the coherence of its action".
[4] Opponents of the Treaty of Lisbon, such as former Danish
Member of the European Parliament (MEP)
Jens-Peter Bonde, argued that it would centralize the EU,
[5] and
weaken democracy by "moving power away" from national electorates.
[6] Supporters argue that it brings more checks and balances into the EU system, with stronger powers for the European Parliament and a new role for national parliaments.
Negotiations to modify EU institutions began in 2001, resulting first in the proposed
Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe, which would have repealed the existing European treaties and replaced them with a "constitution". Although ratified by a majority of member states, this was abandoned after being
rejected by 55% of French voters on 29 May 2005[7][8] and then by 61% of Dutch voters on 1 June 2005.
[9] After a "period of reflection", member states agreed instead to maintain the existing treaties and amend them, to bring into law a number of the reforms that had been envisaged in the abandoned constitution.
An amending "reform" treaty was drawn up and signed in Lisbon in 2007. It was originally intended to have been ratified by all member states by the end of 2008. This timetable failed, primarily due to the
initial rejection of the Treaty in June 2008 by the
Irish electorate, a decision which was reversed in a
second referendum in October 2009 after Ireland secured a number of concessions related to the treaty.
...
The
ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon was officially completed by all member states of the
European Union on 13 November 2009 when the Czech Republic deposited its instrument of ratification with the Italian government.
[2] The
Lisbon Treaty came into force on the first day of the month following the deposition
[3][4] of the last instrument of ratification with the government of Italy, which was 1 December 2009.
[5]
Most states ratified the treaty in parliamentary processes. The Republic of Ireland was the only member state to hold a
referendum on the subject....
The United Kingdom
Although the United Kingdom ratified the treaty in Parliament, this was not without some opposition. Broadly the governing Labour party supported the treaty, while the opposition Conservatives did not. The Liberal Democrats supported the treaty, while calling for a referendum on the UK’s membership of the EU as a whole.
[119] Several ‘Eurosceptic’ MPs called for a referendum on the ratification of the treaty. Daniel Hannan pointed out that the Prime Minister, Tony Blair had twice promised a referendum on the matter, to which Blair replied that he had promised a referendum on the European Constitution rather than the Lisbon Treaty, which unlike the former was not a constitutional treaty.[120] In early October 2007, the Commons’
European Scrutiny Committee had found that the treaty was “substantially equivalent” to the rejected constitution.
[121] In mid October 2007
Bill Cash tabled an
Early Day Motion calling for a referendum on the treaty, with 47 supporting signatures.
[122] In January 2008 a group of 20 MPs of the ruling Labour government (including former ministers,
Kate Hoey and
Frank Field) tabled a
wrecking amendment to the treaty ratification bill that called for a referendum on the treaty.
They pointed out that all the major political parties had promised a referendum in the 2005 general election. Prime Minister Brown (who had replaced Blair on 27 June 2007) rejected calls for an election on the grounds that the treaty had significant differences from the constitution.
[123] Gisela Stuart called for a number of measures that would help avoid a crisis of legitimacy for the treaty: a referendum on ratification, the creation of a cabinet-level Europe minister who would be accountable for negotiations, and that the final ratification of the bill (and any further changes to changes to
qualified majority voting (QMV) in the European parliament) to be a matter of
primary legislation that would go through all the
parliamentary stages rather than being
whipped through.
[124]
The same month, the
Foreign Affairs Committee produced a report on the treaty which concluded that there was “no material difference between the provisions on foreign affairs” in the constitution and the treaty, and that the British government was underestimating and downplaying the significance of the proposed EU
High Representative for Foreign Affairs and
Security Policy and
European External Action Service.
[125] At the Second Reading in the commons 362 voted in favour of Lisbon and 224 against. Three Conservative MPs voted in favour of the Treaty, while 18 Labour MPs voted against it.
The amendment calling for a referendum was rejected although 29 Labour MPs and 13 Liberal Democrats voted with the Conservatives in favour, and three Conservatives voted against their party.
[119]
As promised in the election manifesto, Cameron set a date for a
referendum on whether the UK should remain a member of the European Union, and announced that he would be campaigning for Britain to remain within a "reformed EU".
[221] The terms of the UK's membership of the EU were
re-negotiated, with agreement reached in February 2016.
[222]
The referendum came to be known as
Brexit (a
portmanteau of "British" and "exit") and was held on 23 June 2016. The result was approximately 52% in favour of leaving the European Union and 48% against, with a turnout of 72%.
[223][224] On 24 June, a few hours after the results became known, Cameron announced that he would resign the office of Prime Minister by the start of the Conservative Party Conference in October 2016. In a speech the next day outside 10 Downing Street, he stated that, on account of his own advocacy on behalf of remaining in the EU, "I do not think it would be right for me to try to be the captain that steers our country to its next destination."
[3][225][226]
History of the formation of the EU
Explanation of how the EU is set up, lol
Brexit explained
Possible option of UK remaining in the EU Free Trade area.
www.huffpost.com
