Klavs @klavs.bsky.social · 29/09/2026No, on the contrary. Denmark was and is insignificant seen from an economic perspective but the UK wasn’t and isn’t. The UK chose for purely selfish reasons to stay out and still try to influence the Eurozone even though they weren’t a member. It didn’t matter what Dk did but they did it following 131
Klavs @klavs.bsky.social · 29/09/2026- Dk has fulfilled the convergence criteria since the start So even though Danes use DKK they might as well be using the EUR. 281
Klavs @klavs.bsky.social · 29/09/2026Just remember a few things: - Dk has an opt out and that has been in place from the start - Dk has never tried to interfere with the working of the Eurozone like the UK did - Dk has a fixed exchange rate with the Euro and follows all Eurozone decisions 191
Reposted by KlavsER 🇪🇺 @er2023.bsky.social · 28/09/2026Mr. Kelly is a lying 🐂💩'er. 🤥🤥🤥 Eurobarometer 2023: 89% of EU citizens agree that free movement of EU citizens within the EU personally benefits them. europa.eu/eurobaromete... 185
Klavs @klavs.bsky.social · 29/09/2026Well it did help seven builders escape the recession in the UK in the early 80s. And they were probably not the only ones. 120
Klavs @klavs.bsky.social · 29/09/2026And it is also ahistorical. It is as if FOM of people was a fad. It is foundational to what is the EU today. 010
Klavs @klavs.bsky.social · 29/09/2026Freedom of movement of workers predates the SM with 25 year if counting from when it became operational. 131
Klavs @klavs.bsky.social · 29/09/2026I appreciate that freedom of movement of workers expanded to encompass more or less all EU citizens, but this is foundational matters and not just something invented on a fling in a back room behind curtains in Bruxelles. 251
Klavs @klavs.bsky.social · 29/09/2026Freedom of movement of workers was, like freedom of movement of goods, the earliest of the four “freedoms” to actually become operational. 130
Klavs @klavs.bsky.social · 29/09/2026They must have forgotten watching Auf Wiedersehen, Pet which was set before the creation of the EU and before the Single Market. 000
Klavs @klavs.bsky.social · 29/09/2026Yes. It seems like many British - and especially these two Matts - tend to forget that there was a community before the UK joined. Freedom of movement (albeit for workers) was part of the Treaty of Rome. 100
Klavs @klavs.bsky.social · 27/09/2026For the same reason as when they were members. Getting all the benefits without the commitments. 010
Klavs @klavs.bsky.social · 27/09/2026I guess the EU thought that people could read more than just the title, but maybe its too difficult. 100
Klavs @klavs.bsky.social · 27/09/2026I appreciate that there isn’t a vote but the program covers over half of all European countries. It doesn’t really matter what it is called because it is the content that is important. And it can’t be a surprise that EU programs support businesses within the EU. 000
Klavs @klavs.bsky.social · 27/09/2026Well thats just nitpicking. Its just a title for a program. Russia and Belarus aren’t part of it either. 100
Klavs @klavs.bsky.social · 27/09/2026And why shouldn’t British companies not be hit? They are as far as I know not part of the EU. 100
Klavs @klavs.bsky.social · 26/09/2026Well… Blair, if he is quoted correctly, is right. The UK does need to reform before trying to join. 120
Klavs @klavs.bsky.social · 20/09/2026So even though the rest of Europe have Eurosceptic parties they won’t have the same ease as the parties in the UK would have. 020
Klavs @klavs.bsky.social · 20/09/2026True. But the UK is for all intents and purposes the only country where a 1/3 of the voters can elect a majority government (I know Belarus has fptp as well but Lukashenko normally gets about 103% of the votes). 362
Klavs @klavs.bsky.social · 19/09/2026Yes. I hope to live another few decades but it will not be in my time. 000
Klavs @klavs.bsky.social · 19/09/2026And from a formal pov also a UK where about 30% of the voters can get a majority in parliament and effectively take the UK out again. 110
Klavs @klavs.bsky.social · 19/09/2026solution and not part of the problem. A UK that looks at the accession criteria and instead of saying “how do we get around this or that requirement” says “bring it on, we want to participate lock, stock and barrel. 110
Klavs @klavs.bsky.social · 19/09/2026Who here is pro-Brexit. I for my part spent a lot of time volunteering before the referendum even though I live in the blackest black Brexit-on-the-Blackwater. But today I would only welcome a reformed UK back (not that anyone is going to ask me anything anyway). A UK that is part of the 221
Klavs @klavs.bsky.social · 19/09/2026Just wait til Refuk comes into power after the next election with 33% of the votes across (mainly) English constituencies. It might be even more difficult to get the government to approve a referendum but the backing will be massive. 010
Klavs @klavs.bsky.social · 19/09/2026for example the blocking Eurozone development. I don’t see it behaving any differently and I do not see what positive a UK membership of the EU would bring - at the moment. 151
Klavs @klavs.bsky.social · 19/09/2026The UK was more often a significant but querulous member, negotiating carve-outs and fiercely defending national interests and it still continues that path. The persistent eurosceptic framing in UK politics meant the UK often led from a defensive rather than visionary posture 151
Klavs @klavs.bsky.social · 19/09/2026I rarely align totally with Kresten, he is too extremist in my humble opinion. But within the EU and now after the UK engagement with the EU project was always transactional and ambivalent. Since the internal market the UK did not show any leadership with ideas and influence over EU trajectory. 220
Reposted by KlavsMartín Roberts 🇪🇺 🇪🇸 🇬🇧 🚲 @madridcorro.bsky.social · 19/09/2026"My round? Fancy that, I've left my wallet at home!" 071
Klavs @klavs.bsky.social · 19/09/2026looks like, it will have the be agreed among the 27 and then the 27+1. A nice political speech by UvdL is easy but the process is bound to take far longer than 2 years. 001
Klavs @klavs.bsky.social · 19/09/2026There will, as previously mentioned, not be a formal membership option for Canada but there might be something else creating a closer relationship. But there will not be any black eye for the current US administration simply because of the timeframe. No one knows what an associate membership 100
Reposted by KlavsClive🇨🇦 @clive2182.bsky.social · 18/09/2026We're in the next Eurovision song contest. Does that count? 521
Klavs @klavs.bsky.social · 18/09/2026Oh golly I forgot all about that. Bien sur!! Its funny - in a tragic sense - that the UK parliament allegedly will have a hearing to discuss the UK lack of Eurovision results, but not one to discuss the lack of Brexit results. Guess Eurovision is most important. 042
Klavs @klavs.bsky.social · 18/09/2026Article 49 of the Treaty on European Union sets out the requirements for a state becoming a member and it more or less starts with setting out a geographical condition of being in Europe - sorry. 121
Klavs @klavs.bsky.social · 18/09/2026The UK has an option that Canada doesn’t which is membership. As a senior EU official said to Politico the other day: “It isn’t for European countries with commitment issues” 163
Klavs @klavs.bsky.social · 16/09/2026Yeah. Because nothing says “we understand the EU” as Brexit does…. 020
Klavs @klavs.bsky.social · 16/09/2026The UK has the only government outside the EU that thinks the world revolves around it and that the rest of the world should be grateful for being allowed to interact with the UK. 020
Klavs @klavs.bsky.social · 16/09/2026Well since the Treaty of Rome consecutive UK governments have always been of the opinion that they know what it right for the rest of us so why change anything?!? 010
Reposted by KlavsPeter Smith @redpeter99.bsky.social · 16/09/2026The conduct of Ed Sheeran and the support acts who have withdrawn from his tour is very instructive for us non entertainers as well. When you look back on your career, it's not the size of your house and your bank balance that matters. It's having self-respect. 1018127
Klavs @klavs.bsky.social · 15/09/2026I am not arguing for or against Scottish independence, but currently there are Belgian regions or German länder that have a greater guaranteed rights to self determination than Scotland has. 032
Klavs @klavs.bsky.social · 15/09/2026All EU Countries are independent and have joined and can leave at their own discretion. All countries have part in the decision making process and for significant each country even have veto powers. Comparing Scotland within the UK and as an independent country within the EU is wrong. 110
Klavs @klavs.bsky.social · 15/09/2026I gather you didn’t actually read my answer or at least didn’t understand it. Bismarck was dissuaded from invading all of Dk by the other great powers of the time. If you are comparing the EU with the German Empire then you are a seriously misguided person. 100
Klavs @klavs.bsky.social · 15/09/2026It is also fine and well drawing lines on a map around Scotland but the current resources aren’t Scottish but British. 000
Klavs @klavs.bsky.social · 15/09/2026Yes, well apart from Scotland now - and for the last few hundred years - have been ruled from Westminster. Dannebrog is the oldest flag flying over a sovereign and independent nation. 100
Klavs @klavs.bsky.social · 14/09/2026Bismarck achieved his actual objective (the duchies as a Prussian stronghold with Kiel as a naval base). He stopped there not because Germans feared Dk assimilation, but because further annexation risked pushing the European powers into intervention. That was realpolitik, not cultural hesitation. 000
Klavs @klavs.bsky.social · 14/09/2026What actually happened: After Prussia and Austria won, Bismarck's goal was the annexation of both duchies, which would strengthen Prussia's position in its bid for hegemony in Germany against Austria. He succeeded in that. 100
Klavs @klavs.bsky.social · 14/09/2026Not sure what the 1846 war has to do with today, but you are seeing things backwards. Prussia didn't stop at Schleswig-Holstein out of reluctance to absorb Dk. Bismarck wanted to annex the entire Kingdom but was restrained by international politics, not German sentiment. 100
