My initial reaction to the results of the Referendum

My brief statement prepared yesterday immediately upon hearing the results.

I went to bed early on Thursday to make sure that I could watch the coverage of the results towards the ‘business end’ of the count. At 4am I woke up, and upon looking at my phone, headed to the sitting room to watch the coverage on BBC News. Slowly but surely with a Lagavullin in my hand the ‘remain’ camp were not making any inroads into the ‘leave’ advantage.
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I am British – and European

This Briton wants to stay in the EU…

Patrick Lamb recently posted about his being British on his Facebook account. Metropole, the English language city magazine for Vienna picked up on his post and asked to repost it. It made me think that as a last post before the Referendum I should consider my similar story. Hat tip to Mr. Lamb! Continue reading “I am British – and European”

Not the place you used to be…

The London of 2016 is a vastly different place to the one I knew from when I used to live in the UK.

On Wednesday I boarded a flight to London, travelling BA for the first time in a decade. Since moving to Austria in 2000 I’ve probably flown into London (Heathrow, City or Stanstead) about 70-80 times. It certainly has no novelty to it.
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A week of travel – Austria, Britain and Croatia

This week sees the last full week before the Referendum vote on 23 June. There will be many campaigners on both sides putting in some serious miles as the referendum still remains very much in the balance. I’ll also be putting in some miles – to London on Wednesday and back to Vienna on Thursday before a day trip to Zagreb for Friday – all part of the job working within the European banking supervision environment – going to the European Banking Authority in Canary Wharf and then the Croatian National Bank, the latter hosting a meeting of an SSM working group.
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This is Greenland 1985

Greenland was part of the European Communities’ territory from Denmark’s accession in 1973 through to Greenland’s withdrawal in 1985.

One of the lesser-known facts about the Referendum on continuing membership of the European Union is that a UK withdrawal would not be the first time that a territory has left what we now know as the European Union. The scale and interconnectedness of a British withdrawal would indeed be a far more seismic event than the previous withdrawals of Algeria (upon seceding from France in 1962, it left then very much embryonic European Economic Community), Greenland (which was part of the European Communities’ territory from Denmark’s accession in 1973 through to Greenland’s withdrawal in 1985) following a referendum in the wake of a dispute over fisheries, and most recently, Saint Barthélemy and Saint Martin that both seceded from Guadelope (itself a Département Outre-Mer (overseas département of France)) back in 2007, and ceased to be an Outer Most Region (OMR) of the EU.

A pro-Brexit Briton in Western Austria speaks out

In the short or long term a Brexit will have no effect on where I live. I think a lot of the UK will see a “Yes” vote as a missed opportunity.

One of the comments made by the first pro-Brexit Briton in Austria to answer a set of questions was that there is a big difference between the situation in Vienna compared with Austria as a whole – particularly with regard to the level of integration that a foreigner needs. I was very pleased that my blog had reached a Briton in Western Austria, who was very keen to talk about her experiences – in particular to highlight how different life can be outside the largest city or capital.

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What can we learn from the Austrian Presidential election

A wafer-thin margin in favour of Bremain will not mean the end of the issue – and than after another General Election, there is likely to be another referendum held on the issue of the UK’s EU membership.

One of the very valid concerns that I registered from the previous post hearing the views of a pro-Brexit Briton in Vienna was the concern that a close result will not put the issue of Britain’s EU membership beyond incontrovertible doubt. The poster made the very valid point that a wafer-thin margin in favour of Bremain will not mean the end of the issue – and than after another General Election, there is likely to be another referendum held on the issue of the UK’s EU membership. Continue reading “What can we learn from the Austrian Presidential election”

Feelings of a pro-Brexit Briton in Vienna

A Brexit will result in the unravelling of the EU as we know it today and result in, at the very least, a tremendous amount of reform. A Bremain could see the UK as a very dysfunctional EU member depending on the margin of victory.

In my last post I set a list of questions that I wanted to ask pro-Brexit Britons in Austria. Below are the first responses – from a long-term Briton in Vienna (who would appear to have been living in Austria for a similar period as I have). Continue reading “Feelings of a pro-Brexit Briton in Vienna”

Finding out how pro-Brexit Britons in Austria feel…

To date my blog has been dominated by pro-Bremain content – but of course this is only part of the story – there are Britons in Austria (and elsewhere in Europe) who favour a Brexit.

To date my blog has been dominated by pro-Bremain content – but of course this is only part of the story – there are Britons in Austria (and elsewhere in Europe) who favour a Brexit. Aside from vociferous forum/facebook trolls (trolling in general, not in particular in relation to the Brexit debate), in the interests of trying to understand how people’s opinions differ – or how personal circumstances shape their position, as well as to get away from merely expressing and “broadcasting” my opinion, I will be posting the views of some Britons in Austria, who identify themselves as favouring a Brexit.

Continue reading “Finding out how pro-Brexit Britons in Austria feel…”