Brexit

marcliff wrote on Tue Mar 31, 2026 10:20am:

Article 49 is the EU article that allows countries to gain accession to the EU, nothing to do with UK parliament.

IMHO, there are many reasons UK will not rejoin the EU. Firstly, there is no mechanism for rejoining and UK would have to apply for membership as a new country. All 27 members of the EU must agree to this accessions and there are several countries which would veto the idea and it only takes one. ...

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...Several countries no longer trust UK to adhere by the rules and would not want to go through one government taking us in then the next one taking us out with all the hassle it caused last time.

The EU requires around 65% of positive public agreement to join the EU over a two year minimum period and that will not happen. 65% who think it was a bad idea is not the same as 65% wanting to join.

There are no longer any opt outs for countries joining. They must adopt, or work to adopt, the euro as their national currency. Once that is pointed out the UK citizens would lose interest as they wouldn't want to give up the pound. The country must join Schengen so free movement of people is allowed for living and working. Considering the increasing animosity against foreigners in UK, that is another reason it wouldn't happen. There would be no rebates on membership fees as Maggie fought for. UK would end up paying about half as much again as previously.

A new country must meet the Copenhagen Accord on finances to debt and UK would not meet that criteria at the moment. It was fiddled for Greece's accession but the EU has learned its lesson and would not allow it again.

There are other reasons but the UK habit of in-out-in-out shake it all about would, along with people screaming about governments not respecting democracy and the will of the British people to rejoin would be definite no-nos along with the staggering amount it costs UK to hold a referendum and no government could be sure the electorate would vote the way they wanted. 

aitchc1401 wrote on Tue Mar 31, 2026 12:40pm:

Couple of points - Article 49 is a EU document titled "Rejoing the EU",. The Copenhagen Accord is related to climate change and was agreed at the COP15 climate conference. The financial requirements for joining the EU were agreed in Maastricht in 1993. 

 I do agree that there is little chance of the UK rejoining the EU, even if the UK applied I think there would be several members against them joining. ...

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...

Rgds,

Aitch.

aitchc1401 wrote on Tue Mar 31, 2026 12:40pm:

Couple of points - Article 49 is a EU document titled "Rejoing the EU",. The Copenhagen Accord is related to climate change and was agreed at the COP15 climate conference. The financial requirements for joining the EU were agreed in Maastricht in 1993. 

 I do agree that there is little chance of the UK rejoining the EU, even if the UK applied I think there would be several members against them joining. ...

Read more...

...

Rgds,

Aitch.

marcliff wrote on Tue Mar 31, 2026 12:48pm:

Sorry, should have said Copenhagen Criteria "The Copenhagen criteria are the rules that define whether a country is eligible to join the European Union. The criteria require that a state has the institutions to preserve democratic governance and human rights, has a functioning market economy, and...

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... accepts the obligations and intent of the European Union." Lots of things have been updated since Maastricht including no opt outs on currency or Schengen.

The uk.gov site you looked at may have had the heading "rejoining the EU" but that is not Article 49. Article 49 established how a country can join the EU which the "rejoining" uk.gov article explains is the only way for UK to go into the EU, hence not "rejoining" but joining from scratch again.  

aitchc1401 wrote on Tue Mar 31, 2026 3:16pm:

Yes, you are right, a UK government doc. I'm not sure the financial conditions will be  the same, many EU countries don't meet the current criteria, though as members they don't have to worry about it.

Aitch. 

marcliff wrote on Tue Mar 31, 2026 10:20am:

Article 49 is the EU article that allows countries to gain accession to the EU, nothing to do with UK parliament.

IMHO, there are many reasons UK will not rejoin the EU. Firstly, there is no mechanism for rejoining and UK would have to apply for membership as a new country. All 27 members of the EU must agree to this accessions and there are several countries which would veto the idea and it only takes one. ...

Read more...

...Several countries no longer trust UK to adhere by the rules and would not want to go through one government taking us in then the next one taking us out with all the hassle it caused last time.

The EU requires around 65% of positive public agreement to join the EU over a two year minimum period and that will not happen. 65% who think it was a bad idea is not the same as 65% wanting to join.

There are no longer any opt outs for countries joining. They must adopt, or work to adopt, the euro as their national currency. Once that is pointed out the UK citizens would lose interest as they wouldn't want to give up the pound. The country must join Schengen so free movement of people is allowed for living and working. Considering the increasing animosity against foreigners in UK, that is another reason it wouldn't happen. There would be no rebates on membership fees as Maggie fought for. UK would end up paying about half as much again as previously.

A new country must meet the Copenhagen Accord on finances to debt and UK would not meet that criteria at the moment. It was fiddled for Greece's accession but the EU has learned its lesson and would not allow it again.

There are other reasons but the UK habit of in-out-in-out shake it all about would, along with people screaming about governments not respecting democracy and the will of the British people to rejoin would be definite no-nos along with the staggering amount it costs UK to hold a referendum and no government could be sure the electorate would vote the way they wanted.