Brexit is a fantastic opportunity for the European Union, they just don’t realise it yet.
Of all the countries in the EU, the UK has been holding it back. It didn’t join the Euro currency, and it didn’t join the Schengen area. It’s only still a member because it got in on the ground floor. It has vetoed progress and talked down the EU for 40 years. It has a high proportion of MEPs compared to other countries, based on population.
The UK has sent nationalistic euro-sceptics and principled obstructionists to represent the British people who voted for them to the European Parliament. Think about that – British people are represented in the European Parliament by MEPs that they vote for, and they choose people who will not consider the issues but will, on virtue of it being talked about in the EU, reject everything. If they even bother to turn up to vote. No wonder many British people feel like the EU isn’t working for them. They chose it not to work for them.
Individual European countries will benefit too. Pan-European companies that want to keep the WTO rules of origin will have to choose between moving all of their manufacturing to the UK or from the UK into Europe. Given the EU has a bigger market and trade deals (the UK will have none) it’s not hard to imagine which they would choose.
Seeing how the UK handles Brexit, and the lack of sensible handling, will be a blow to any other European anti-EU movements. At the very least they’ll have to do more careful research to convince people that they won’t end up in the same boat as the UK. The pro-EU feelings will get stronger as the UK gets weaker.
So the EU will be able to make decisions easier, European Parliament will get a bit smarter, and individual countries in the EU will get manufacturing and services companies looking to set up new bases as they flee the inwards-looking islands. The EU will have more support from it’s citizens. On the downside, they will lose one of the trade partners. Under a no-deal Brexit, their citizens will lose freedom of movement in the UK. Their businesses will lose a market of 60 million people.
So Brexit is a fantastic opportunity for the EU and European countries, and the future looks bright however badly the UK decides to do things.