The biggest issue right now is that Brussels won't clarify anything either way until they get the article 50 declaration from London.
Effectively it has turned into a staring contest, with the hope that London will brink first.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8036097.stm#start
Without the rebate, the UK would be a massive outlier (paying a much higher net GDP per capita).
The other often cited 'special treatment' is that we are not part of Schengen - a situation which also applies to Ireland and Cyprus (Cyprus are technically committed to joining but it remains to be seen whether this will actually happen). The common factor is that these countries are islands. Is it really that much of an inconvenience for people to bring their passports when you already need to have booked a plane, ferry or channel tunnel ticket (practically, it isn't the same as driving from France to Belgium)?
For what it is worth, I voted to remain.
He said that article 50 would be triggered very soon after the vote.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/0/what-is-article-50-the-onl...
Yes, it's not fair that they'll get free access to the single market without following half of the rules, because they're stronger than Switzerland and Norway, because Germany and France need British trade more than the other way around.
Britain has zero obligation to be fair, only to use all of their power to protect and advance the interests of their people.
To your second point: I would argue that France and Germany have more to win of of a hard line here. Yeah, the auto industry will tank, but as this very article shows, there are many sectors in which Britain might lose to the other big nations. We should definitely take our slice of that financial industry pie. We want to avoid an avalanche of exceptions for other countries so let's not start giving them out too easily. We want to keep the club together.
And final argument: At least Germany or France are not at risk of losing half of their federal states. Exciting times. Would be a really strange and random reason after all this years of violence for a more united Ireland.
[0]: http://media0.faz.net/ppmedia/aktuell/feuilleton/3725638940/...
Before the Cold War, Europeans had been slaughtering each other for centuries, for millennia.
I think I found almost all my friends through common interests and in times of piece, for which we ourselves had done very little (while I do not share your point that this is only because 'murica). Does not mean that they are not my friends.
http://blogs.ec.europa.eu/ECintheUK/lets-quit-eu-and-link-up...
As to whether Britain can win, I think the next Conservative government is likely willing to walk away from the table. Shifting to a more Atlantic-oriented vs. European-oriented position would be a somewhat painful economic transition, but it's what a lot of Tories want at heart anyway, so it's not an infeasible outcome if the continent proves unyielding.
And don't forget that Merkel and Hollande cannot afford to be seen allowing hundreds of thousands of job losses in some effort to punish Britain and deter the further crumbling of the EU, which is increasingly unpopular in their countries as well. Alternative for Germany (AfD) and the National Front (FA) are biting at their heels, and FA might actually win the presidency in France next year, which would almost certainly be the end of the EU.
The UK can walk away from the trade deals it has with the EU (and lets' be clear, the UK expressly voted to cancel those treaties, this was not initiated from the EU side) and apparently no-one in the UK will care. But the Germans will cave (and force the rest of the EU to cave) because we buy their cars?
And you don't even expect the EU to exist for much longer, so the economic and political chaos on the continent amongst our biggest trading partners is somehow a good thing? They'll drag the UK down just as surely as the UK is dragging them down currently.
Will Germany sacrifice its principle for car sales? I don't know. Will France and Germany persuade the other EU members to follow them? I don't know. Will this happen quickly? In the meanwhile what happens? There's a lot of uncertainty.
With all that's been happening in the UK for the last few weeks, my sarcasm detector is seriously broken. Can you please clarify if this was intended as sarcasm or not?
However, pesky things like "facts" shouldn't get in the way of a Brexit story. /s
On the bright side, this entire affair has the effect of being quite educational on matters regarding the EU. I wouldn't be surprised if the Wikipedia articles about the EU, EEA, and European Parliament had increasing viewing numbers. I, at least, have been looking things up quite often the last couple of weeks.
Either way, it shouldn't have been on the "pro-leave" campaigners to implement a plan. That's for the government of the UK to do now that it's been "decided" that they should leave.
They can't even say what they want, except perhaps for the absurd fantasy where they get all of the benefits of the EU and none of the obligations.
Problem with this is it raise the bar. Who controls the resources available for plan-making?
The same thing happens in research, where certain results can be suffocated through lack of funding.
The government that raised the referendum should have prepared for either result. Seems the government figured it wouldn't survive being in power with a brexit result anyway (and might not want to), so why allow a plan to happen - the more the next party struggles the better...
Here's a large boulder that looks like it might/mightn't be about to fall over a cliff.
I super-glued your hand to it - the glue's not completely dry yet, but it sure will hurt pulling your hand away (might take off some skin, you could bleed to death!) - better not do it?