Brexit Tragedy and Freedom of Movement
Sane Mind United Kingdom

Brexit Tragedy and Freedom of Movement

As of the 1st February 2020, the United Kingdom is no longer a member of the European Union. Despite the intense opposition from other political parties and countries within the union (Scotland and Northern Ireland), the Tory regime succeeded in taking the country out of the EU. The true Brexit tragedy starts now. The UK came out of the EU against the withdrawal agreement. Under its terms, there will be a transition period until the end of this year. It basically means that everything remains exactly as it used to be when the UK was in the EU. But, in reality everything changed.

I’ve already written about Brexit. Back at the end of April 2019, I published a post – Brexit Insanity. It was at the time when there was still a very slight possibility that Brexit could’ve been avoided. Clearly, those were empty hopes.

Anyway, I don’t want to go too much into political and economic aspects of Brexit in this post. There will be time for that. Right now, everything is still the same as before, until the end of this year. The UK still operates as an EU country. For example, there are still no border controls of goods in either direction. But, we will see what happens in the future. The Tory regime is already coming up with conflicting statements regarding the trade deal that they have to negotiate with the EU. So, I will come back to this aspect of the Brexit tragedy after the transition period has ended. By then, it will be clear what kind of relationship the UK will or won’t have with the EU.

There is one thing that has changed for me personally – I’ve lost my EU citizenship. Although the freedom of movement, as enshrined in the EU law, is still in place until the end of this year, it means very little to me practically. I also think that most people in the UK are in the same situation. In other words, whoever wanted to move to another EU country, to retain the freedom of movement within the EU, has already done it. But I wonder, how easy is for someone to drop everything in their life? Or, to leave everything and to move to another country in order to preserve their freedom of movement?

So, let’s have a look at what I said about the freedom of movement in the post that I published last year:

For me personally, the most invaluable is the freedom of movement. I believe that it’s difficult, perhaps almost impossible,  for people in other parts of the world to fully comprehend what the freedom of movement really means. For example, if you are Spanish and you decide to move to Germany to live and work, all you need to do is to pack your suitcase and go to Germany. You would only need to register with the local authorities. In other words, a person from one EU country can move to another EU country without any obstacle.

That’s not possible in any other part of the world. Of course, people move between countries, but legally it has to be for a good reason and with a lot of permits. You don’t need any permit to move within the EU. It all depends on whether you want to move or not. You can decide to stay in your country forever or you can go and explore another country and gain new experiences, learn a language and immerse yourself in a different culture.

I can still move to another EU country by the end of this year. But, it’s not guaranteed that people that arrive now, after Brexit, will have the same chance of settling down. It all depends on whether or not there will be a meaningful deal between the UK and the EU at the end of the transition period. If at the end of this year there is no deal, then everything is possible, including deportations.

I primarily feel sorry for younger generations in the UK. They’ve become the “captive population”. Well, the whole country is now the “captive population”. Regardless of what happens in the future and how bad the economic and political situation may become, they will have no choice of moving to any EU country. They will simply have to stay in the UK, isolated on a small island. Unless of course they go to the EU as refugees. The safety net of the EU has been removed. The same applies to pensioners who intended to move to Portugal, Spain, Italy or Greece. They will no longer be able to do that. There is no more retirement in the sun and by the sea, that option has disappeared.

If things go really bad, I have an option. In that case, I’ll go back to Belgrade. It’s funny to think that 30 years ago I sought refuge in the UK, from the madness of wars in Yugoslavia. However, 30 years later, I may have to seek refuge in Serbia, from the madness and the Brexit tragedy in the UK.

 

Brexit Tragedy
Donkey

 

Well, the wheel of fortune has turned yet again in my life. Anyway, I embrace this situation as an opportunity. In fact, it could be the best incentive for me to leave everything and travel for a long period of time. I’m considering that option very seriously.

The insanity in the UK has just started. I really think that the country would’ve been much better having a donkey that you can see in the photo above as prime minister, rather than the creature that currently occupies that position.

 

 

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