How can the UK be so deluded as to think they would get a better deal and be better off than they already were?

They were in the union, kept their own currency and had exemptions from a lot of EU rules.

Now they fucked up royally out of pure arrogance and some ill-advised nationalism.

Good luck.

This was the real shocker to me. The UK had an absurdly good deal in the EU. This was a fight between guys who make billions from domestic commerce and guys who make billions from international commerce and the local guys won. A cost of living crisis is a boon for them.

> How can the EU be so unfriendly?

I suspect that the grandparent is joking, doing the "why did the EU do this to the UK?"

The joke is that brexit issues are never the UK's fault. Along the lines of https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/who-killed-hannibal

I think the EU were perfectly happy to have talks and negotiations, but the UK wanted to be able to influence the EU without being bound by its rules - hardly a reasonable stance for the UK to take

It always amazes me how people always believe the EU is honest and truthful in all negotiations. This is even after they wrecked Greece and tried to prevent the UK getting their COVID vaccinations.

The EU didn't try to prevent Covid vaccinations in the UK. AstraZeneca decided to interpret contracts. The EU held them to their contract.

As an EU/UK citizen living in the UK - I'm okay with that. The EU signed a contract with a 3rd party company and they are requesting delivery on their goods.

For Greece - I think the level of corruption in the Greek market was pretty obvious so I'm not so too bothered by the "wrecking". If they followed the laws and didn't steal money - they would have been okay.

The corruption in the Greek economy was a drop in the ocean though. It had 5% growth per year, enough to outgrow its corruption like every other developed country.

But also had 13% budget deficit (of its GDP). Other countries had to bail them out of default on loans.

They also said they will get the deficit under control in 2 years and a few months later said they would most likely default.

They had massive tax evasion problems (e.g. corruption) and one of the lowest retirement ages in the EU.

I'm really nor sure how you see corruption given that the government took out loans which it had no way of repaying even with 5% YoY growth. The simple fact is they were fiscally irresponsible. It's a common pattern in the Balkans to just do what is needed to win the elections without thinking of how the country is developing and what is the right course. It stems from the corruption of the political system.

The EU is a huge economic block, and Britain's single most important trading partner. They can be whatever the fuck they like to be. And the EU was exceptionally friendly and patient towards the UK which demanded all the benefits with none of the responsibilities.

UK's entire chain of options were known to everyone with half a brain even before Brexit started. Described succintly in this chart: edit see first chart on House of Lords page here: https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201719/ldselect/ldeu... end edit and explained very briefly in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agZ0xISi40E

How can England be so unfriendly and not allow a Scottish Independence referendum?