before or after 2004?
There is no such thing as a European Citizenship.
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The passport in the picture is a German passport and it clearly states that European Citizenship is supplementary i.e. in addition. If you loose the primary reason for the supplement you automatically would loose the supplement, so I would think.
My argument would be that I didnât choose to lose it, it was taken away from me against my will.
But this would be a discussion for human rights lawyers.
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What would happen to you,@jsroberts? Donât you have some complex collection of passports in your family?
Personally, I donât want to go back to the UK, but if I leave the US Iâd quite fancy Germany or the Nordic countries, so if the UK leaves, I donât care too much about maintaining my British citizenship. EU citizenship is worth a lot more to me.
Ed Stourtonâs programme had the leader of the Democratic Unionists saying they are in favour of the UK leaving the EU. The DUP is the largest party in Northern Ireland, so it would be difficult to arrange an open border arrangement just for Northern Ireland when the main party would be against it.
I have never shown a passport in Switzerland, except on the night train from France to Italy, which goes through Switzerland, but you always have to hand in your passport / id card on a cross boarder night train.
But clearly, this is anecdotal and my memory might be deluded.
I think chances are that you would end up with at least an EEA citizenship or equivalent status. Thatâs not quite the same thing but enough for many purposes.
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I would guess that an exit, especially one encouraged by the DUP would be an unwelcome twist in the fragile equation that is NI politics.
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I have an Irish passport and all but one of the rest of the family has German nationality, so it shouldnât be a huge problem. My son should be able to get German nationality eventually and an Irish passport in the meantime. Fortunately the English language is important enough that my EU translation work probably wonât be affected too much either. Iâve been thinking of applying for German nationality, but it partly depends on where we end up in the next few years.
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I have been checked at the border between Germany and Switzerland often depending on where I cross when driving.
Most of the officials at the Swiss borders disappeared after Switzerland finalized its entry into the Schengen Agreement as I recall.
But all the infrastructure remains in the places I cross and are occasionally staffed.
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I must admit I donât know which way to vote in the upcoming in/out referendum.
Problem is that the way it is being played out cameron has turned the in/out vote into more of a vote over his own party rather than europe. If you vote yes youâre essentially rubber-stamping cameronsâ âEU reformsâ and cherrypicking policies. If you vote no the conservatives can just pass whatever laws they want without the EU. Same result no matter what you choose some might say.
I did hear somwhere btw and I am not sure how true or accurate this is but cameronsâ negociations he went through might not even be legally binding! That could change the whole picture if it is true or not though as I say Iâm not sure.
Some have also said if cameron gets his way over europe and the vote it could lead to the destruction of the EU in any case. The example of âreformsâ and cherry-picking policies Iâm sure wonât be lost on other EU countries and so their governments and populace might start to ask for the same thing â âIf the british can do this and theyâre not exactly entusiastic EU members why canât we?â.
So you might have other EU countries cherry-picking as well and since the whole of the EU pretty much relies on all the countries following similar laws ⌠well that pretty much knocks it on the head. What happens if one country (for example) follows EU law and says this but yet another EU memember state says itâs illegal? Arguments abound!
Iâm guessing the UK will vote to remain in the EU but just by a small (letâs say 5-10%) margin. As for me I have no idea on how to vote. I donât really want to vote no but then I donât want to rubber-stamp cameronsâ âreformsâ either.
ljones
If youâre Scottish or Irish, you might not have to.
Only when it suits him. But money is involved here.
Kind of true, the agreement was reached with commision and council.
All deals realisable without treaty changes (i.e. only a new interpretation) are mostly fixed as itâs within the competence of the commision to decide if a member state is in violation of one of the EU treaties.
But if the treaties itself have to be changed/amended all bets are off: The European parliament was not part of the negotiation and EP president Schuz already said that he will not accept British exceptionalism.
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Thatâs one of the Brexit scenarios: the Scottish voting again for independence with the additional issue that theyâre prefer to be part of the EU more than theyâd prefer being part of the UK.
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The outside perspective on the british tantrum summed up:
âLook at me Iâm special. Hey guy plz look at me 'cause Iâm special. LOOK ME SPECIAL!â
Canât wait for the British to vote themselves out of the EU.
The UK got more exceptions to the rules / regulations / contributions (one example: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_rebate) than any other country in the EU. For decades different UK governments blocked important decisions to reform the EU out of fear for their sovereignty all the while licking the boots of the USA. Now the conservatives decry the EU administration and decision making process as flawed, inefficient and slow - but it was their blockade attitude that got us to this point by hindering or diluting every important reform.
The UK is a nation sitting on the fence, cherry picking only the benefits of the EU and blockading everything else. The EU doesnât need the UK but the UK needs the EU. Good riddance - weâll see how the UK fares as isolated country.
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