Brexit and Parliaments - a Panel Discussion in Europe House

Today I went to Europe House in Westminster where they held a panel discussion about the roles of parliaments during the Brexit process. There were several people on the panel: 

- Baroness Ludford, LibDem (House of Lords)

- Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh, SNP (House of Commons)

- Seb Dance, Labour (MEP)

- Jeff King, Professor of Law at UCL

- Davor Jancic, Lecturer for European Law.

- Maxine Mawhinney, Moderator of today, BBC News

Each of the candidates presented their cases initially, and then they jointly answered questions. All of them were overly sceptical about Brexit, so at least one did not have to listen to political scum like Farage and the likes. 

Here a few points from today that I found extremely interesting and noteworthy:

1) Baroness Ludford: "The EU Parliament has the nuclear bomb of being able to reject he final Brexit deal."

2) Baroness Ludford: "People voted for departure. People did not vote for destination." This means, there is no mandate for leaving the Single Market, as this was never on the table.

3) Baroness Ludford: People should be able to vote for the final deal. The process started with a referendum, it should end with one, too (My personal point of view: one referendum was quite enough. I am not sure if I can cope with another one).

4) Tasmina Ahmed-Sheik: "We must always acknowledge contributions EU migrants make, not just financially, but also culturally."

5) Tasmina: "I am not ready to put my faith into this government to negotiate any deal, let alone a good deal."

6) Jeff King: "European Parliament is the gold standard of parliamentary involvement in international treaty negotiations."

7) Jeff: "Parliaments need to be listened to. To rely on executive grace in a time like this is almost unbearable."

8) Jeff: "The EU scrutiny committee ought to have scrutiny reserve power. It would improve accountability function."

9) Seb Dance: "We need to have a national discussion that involves everyone - the devolved assemblies, cities, Parliament, everyone."

10) Seb: It's the EU now that holds all the cards in the forthcoming negotiations. "We shouldn't imagine that we're entering negotiations between equals."

11)Seb: "The reality is, once we trigger Article 50, the ball will be entirely in the EU27's court."

12) Davor Jancic: "European Parliament is a serious player: it has right of consent. EP previously rejected agreements struck by EU."

13) Davor: Role of national parliaments in EU27 is greatly neglected & could prove stumbling block in Article 50 deal.

14) Davor: "When the UK leaves the EU, it also leaves a partnership club where international standards are made."

15) Seb: "The UK Youth Parliament should also have their say in the negotiations since young people are the most affected."

16) Tasmina: "Labour needs to get its act together for the sake of unified Hard Brexit opposition."

17) Seb: "The fact that the UK Government has closed so many options has forced the EU to do the same."

18) Seb: "EU institutions unified on the main negotiation points despite some differences between Member States & EP groups."

19) Seb: "If Le Pen wins and we have a fascist government in France, the EU is doomed."

20) Maxine Mawhinney: Representatives from the Conservatives, UKIP, and Labour Leavers were also invited but did either not reply or did not have any interest!! 

You think life is sort of okay, ...

... and then you will suddenly get hit by a sledgehammer.

If someone had asked me last year about my personal long-term plans I would have answered: I will remain in my flat in West Norwood, rent out my other flat in Forest Hill to get some basic income, drastically reduce working on long projects in 2025 and concentrate on short term assignments only. By then I wanted to become an LLM, which is a Licensed Lay Minister in the Church of England, and focus on that area. And that's it. A straight forward and simple plan. To do so, I wanted to work full-time for as much as possible for the remaining 8 years and continue my theology course which I only started last September and which I enjoy thoroughly; one of my best choices I made in life. 

And then came Brexit.

All my friends know how much the Brexit vote last June affected me, especially the ones who are linked with me on Facebook; they had to endure quite a few rants of mine. I have also written a blog entry here about my feelings and got quite a few clicks. The biggest problem for me is, that I don't feel welcome anymore in this country. I take Brexit very personally, even though friends of mine told me to stop doing so. The issue is, I cannot. It reminds me too much of Germany in the 1930ies and I simply cannot accept this. Racism and populism is a total no go for me and my inner value system. But I got on with life and thought that within a certain time, Brexit would hopefully never occur. My sister asked me last year whether I wanted to come back one day and my usual answer was: "No, never!"

And then came Theresa May's speech yesterday. 

I am a freelancing management consultant and have lived in London for more than 20 years. I don't usually work in the UK but mainly in the EU. I take advantage of the single market. I work abroad but pay taxes in England. Usually, I fly out every week and am only staying in England at weekends. I have done this like that for the last 20 years. It works for me. With the single market vanishing I cannot do this anymore; my business model turns obsolete. 

And then came decision time for me.

So I prepared a matrix where I put down cities where I could imagine to live and ranked them: 

-->

Locations	House price	Friends	Airport	Trains	Scene	Culture	SUM
Berlin	3	5	5	5	5	5	28
München	1	3	5	5	5	5	24
Frankfurt	1	5	5	5	5	3	24
Köln	3	1	5	5	5	5	24
Hamburg	1	1	5	5	5	5	22
Wien	3	3	5	1	5	5	22
Nürnberg	5	3	1	5	3	3	20
Ingolstadt	1	5	3	5	1	3	18
	1 - high	1 - few/no	1 - far	1 - bad	1 - bad	1 - bad/little

Berlin made the race. My hometown came last, even though I like it there. But in the end, I need a big city. Coming from 20 years in London the Bavarian province is not really an option. It would drive me bonkers after a few weeks. 

And then, what's next? 

I think I am going to wait for another 6 months to see what's going on politically. Somehow I still think there is hope and a tiny shining light at the end of the tunnel, even though, deep inside I have started with the process of segregation from the UK. It is bizarre how these things work. I already told my family that I might move back this or next year and they are happy. I told my friends in Berlin and they are ecstatic. Somehow I feel ready to go. 

Maybe it is time for a fresh start? Maybe it is even fate? Or maybe I just have to practice what I usually preach to my clients, that constant change is inevitable? One never knows these days. Deep inside I still hope that our dumb and fascist government will be overturned and the British people get some sense back into their minds and start doing something. 

Only time will tell....! 

  

The Ship called Britannia is Sinking

Not only that I haven't had a proper night's sleep since last Friday morning when I got the ‪#‎Brexit‬ news, I'm also starting to get traumatised by what's happening in the UK. I feel like being in a straightjacket looking at a whole country going down the drain committing harakiri:

- The Leave campaign was based on lies. The liars admit it and nobody seems to really care.
- The Leave people have absolutely no plan what to do now.
- The government is headless and has also no plan what to do.
- The opposition is busy with themselves getting rid of their leader.
- Xenophobia is on the rise, foreigners are being bullied on public transport, racist graffitis sprayed on walls, and a Polish community centre is being vandalised in London.
- GBP is on a historic low, prices are on the rise.
- The credit agency S&P downgraded the UK, other agencies will follow.
- There is a petition to get another referendum reaching 4 million signatures.
- Apparently, more than 1 million Leave voters regret their vote.
- It becomes also apparent that this was a protest vote.
- Demonstrations are happening, people raising their voices to remain.
- Society is deeply divided: rural Leave vs cities Remain, older people Leave vs younger people Remain, England/Wales Leave vs Scotland and Northern Ireland Remain.
- Scotland in particular but also Northern Ireland think about leaving the UK and stay in the EU, the UK as we know it might cease to exist soon.
- The Queen seeing her country fall apart is frantically travelling to NI and I'm sure it's not a normal routine visit.
- Brits abroad are scared of the unknown future ahead.
- Europeans in the UK (like me) feel likewise.
- Stock markets around the world are in turmoil, shares are falling freely.
- This inability to act makes the UK the new international laughing stock.
So may I ask in all politeness WHEN ON EARTH DOES OUR PARLIAMENT AND GOVERNMENT ACT AND GET US AND OUR COUNTRY OUT OF THIS DISASTER AND BACK TO NORMAL; WITHIN THE EU, THAT IS?

That was me on Saturday morning.... Let's hope for the best!!!