TBH, EU member states can be plenty oppressive when they want to, so - why not just take it to the next level and have all-European overlords?
"Despite their citizens having opposed going in there." Can you point to a vote to invoke Article 50 that was not honored by the EU? Can you point to a country getting admission into the EU without a vote from their people?
Clearly not everyone loves the EU but the majorities are very much in favour (and certainly this is the case among the people who actually understand politics, economics, etc.).
- Maastricht Treaty, 1992, Denmark, - European Constitution, 2005, France and Netherlands, - Lisbon Treaty, 2008, Ireland.
The votes were usually redone and passed. The exception is Norway which refused to join twice.
> Clearly not everyone loves the EU but the majorities are very much in favour (and certainly this is the case among the people who actually understand politics, economics, etc.).
This is quite the loaded statement. I've heard from people on either both sides of the argument that understood politics and economics very well (professors, lecturers, etc.)
Why is that? Which EU citizen protection is angering you? :)
My comment above was meant to provide context and to point out that both sides of the argument can be legitimate.
The comment is neutral, you shouldn't be able to infer what I think about the EU from it. It simply points out facts and says that reducing a point of view to being uninformed is too easy.
My stance on the EU is complex: it does good, it does bad, it affects each member states differently, it changes over time. Those are all pretty neutral statements too, only siths live in extremes ;-).
The EU was going to pause it indefinitely because of the border issues. UK diplomats in Brussels were actually helping with that. And the UK just went ahead with it ... That option would not be open to anyone except very large countries.
Now make of that what you want, but the EU definitely doesn't want to let people just leave, and the UK leaving is not a great illustration.