Without taking into account the fact that the seed of the EU, the Council of Europe, was Nazi in origin with influential Nazi’s taking prominent positions within it’s structure after the second world War, what the UK joined in 1973 was the European Economic Community which by its name was centred solely on trade and that we joined a trading block. A referendum in 1975 ensured that we remained. However what was to follow by stealth and deception was the mutation into a political union.
Political agreements were foisted on the 12 existing members with the Maastricht Treaty in 1992 for political integration. This spelled the move from a social democratic model which was more concerned with the well being of populations to a neoliberal model which embodies all of the social problems that we see today, the result of private profits being moved offshore instead of being reinvested which was once the case. The introduction of Private Financial Initiative which New Labour used to build schools and hospitals, and which have since proved to become the main burden in running these programs was introduced by Tory John Major as a result of lobbying from the City of London, but Maastricht Treaty policy enabled this to take place.
Denmark rejected the Maastricht Treaty in 1992 but agreed the following year. Ireland also rejected the Maastricht Treaty in 1992 and the Nice Treaty in 2001 and also the Lisbon Treaty in 2008 but was made to vote again until a yes result was secured which was in 2009. There were 27 members by this time and the rule was that all member states had to agree.
When we look at the negotiations with the EU regarding Brexit, the foremost demand from the EU negotiators is that the UK pay a substantial sum first without having any idea of what the final outcome for trade will be. It seems that the political aspect comes first and they want their bung as a priority.
With such an attitude, the attempted ousting of Mugabe comes to mind as one who served his own political ambitions over those of his people and who had no concern for the extreme ruination of a once prosperous country and even at a very old age is still determined to hang on to self serving power.
The same goes for political leaders who are willing to lead their nation into war for gain rather than defence, even if it means a disastrous outcome as was the case in WW1 and 2, not to forget many wars since despite the mantra of the EU that it exists so that such carnage never takes place again within Europe.
The UK only wants to extricate itself from the supranational dictatorship and to resume trading on an equal basis as before when a member of the EEC but this seems to be a no no as far as the main political proponents for the negotiations are concerned, but this should also be of concern for the trading partners of the 27 because it will be they who will also be feeling the reciprocal pinch and not the political bodies who exist, as ever throughout the World, like a parasite on the population.