What are the people of Europe saying? Anecdotaly.
Discussion
Robertj21a said:
ATG said:
Friends from the rest of the EU and those bits of their social circle that I can see via social media have all expressed a unanimously negative opinion; shock, incredulity and annoyance. Same with colleagues past and present. Those samples cover Sweden, France, Germany, Spain, Ireland, Poland, Greece, Romania, Czech Republic, plus a few others, and a broad range of political perspectives, a broad range of careers and a very broad range of salaries. The thing they have in common would be their age range, 30s and 40s, that they've all travelled and lived and worked abroad, and that they're all well educated.
So ? - it wasn't them asked to decide.RMK87 said:
andy-xr said:
In Poland, Pakistan, Russia, France, Germany, Spain or Ireland....is anyone native to those countries shouting that it's time for the Brits to pack up and leave?
I don't understand your post. Whats Pakistan got to do with the EU?Anyway, to the original post, the answer is no, no one said to leave to any Brit
Through a shared hobby, I interact with a senior police officer in Stockholm , He relates that he is "hardly surprised" . Yet an old Irish friend, a fine and gallant Kerryman said (basically verbatim) " Thank f
k we have had an outbreak of commom sense of late ,otherwise we would fall out like we always have" this was said with a wry smile :-)
Personally, I get the impression that the average EU citizen has feelings ranging from alarm to envy, good for them.
k we have had an outbreak of commom sense of late ,otherwise we would fall out like we always have" this was said with a wry smile :-) Personally, I get the impression that the average EU citizen has feelings ranging from alarm to envy, good for them.
Currently touring Europe and on the morning after the Brexit result we crossed the border from Germany in to Switzerland. Swiss border control were polite as ever asking "are you our first Britsh Refugues?" Had to laugh at that one, got tiresome as the day went on and everyone who noticed the UK plates had something to say!
Not anecdotal, this is first hand. I am in Italy. I work with about 25 people with ages ranging from 20 to 45 ish, with the median age early 20's. Almost half of us are Brits (all of which voted leave BTW), we have a few French, Italian, Croatian, Swedish, and some from further afield including South Africa, Australia, Thailand, and The Philippines.
The French, Italians and Swedish said they would have voted leave given the same choice (the Swedes probably taking the hardest line here as I imagine they have suffered the most from EU membership). There is no animosity here and they understand Britain was not rejecting Europe, but the EU. The all cite similar reasons to many of the British leave voters, namely immigration, border control and Islam. Rightly or wrongly the EU seems to take most of the blame for this.
The Aussies took the piss a bit at first, but one later conceded that they too would be angry if they "had to support 27 fking New Zealands floating around us" 
We (the Brits) have seen no negative reaction, and many people are congratulating us for taking the lead in reforming, or even dismantling the EU.
Nobody is worried about their continued employment or resident status. It is laughable the panicking that seems to be going on at home, and the UK media hyperbole and sensationalism is quite frankly shameful. At least all of us here can see through that.
So anyone in doubt, particularly you 'liberal elite' out there, pull your heads out of your arses, head to Europe and talk to some real people before you start crying about a do-over.
The French, Italians and Swedish said they would have voted leave given the same choice (the Swedes probably taking the hardest line here as I imagine they have suffered the most from EU membership). There is no animosity here and they understand Britain was not rejecting Europe, but the EU. The all cite similar reasons to many of the British leave voters, namely immigration, border control and Islam. Rightly or wrongly the EU seems to take most of the blame for this.
The Aussies took the piss a bit at first, but one later conceded that they too would be angry if they "had to support 27 f
king New Zealands floating around us" We (the Brits) have seen no negative reaction, and many people are congratulating us for taking the lead in reforming, or even dismantling the EU.
Nobody is worried about their continued employment or resident status. It is laughable the panicking that seems to be going on at home, and the UK media hyperbole and sensationalism is quite frankly shameful. At least all of us here can see through that.
So anyone in doubt, particularly you 'liberal elite' out there, pull your heads out of your arses, head to Europe and talk to some real people before you start crying about a do-over.
Worth the 4.5 mins, though it does get a bit touchy-feely towards the end.
https://www.facebook.com/euan.oattes/posts/1015380...
https://www.facebook.com/euan.oattes/posts/1015380...
A German lady I know was genuinely incredulous. She said it was seriously crazy and she worried for Britain as it must be full of small minded islanders.. Thought we were naive to that we think we can 'go it alone in a global economy' and that we are now 'out in the cold forever'. She is in her late 20s, very confident and holds her own opinions in very high regard. I offered back a bit of banter on the topic but she has not responded back since..
French guy I know in his late 30s said we were bloody lucky to get a say in the matter and fully understood why anyone would want to leave the stranglehold of the EU. Interestingly he said if the French had a referendum tomorrow it would go exactly the same way.
I spoke to our Amsterdam office this morning and the best he had to offer on the topic was "sure, the world is always changing, but the world is always schtaying the shame also". I freaking love the Dutch
French guy I know in his late 30s said we were bloody lucky to get a say in the matter and fully understood why anyone would want to leave the stranglehold of the EU. Interestingly he said if the French had a referendum tomorrow it would go exactly the same way.
I spoke to our Amsterdam office this morning and the best he had to offer on the topic was "sure, the world is always changing, but the world is always schtaying the shame also". I freaking love the Dutch
s2art said:
Any idea why?
Anecdotally I have heard a few reasons. Fear of the unknown which seems to a biggie combined with a feeling of not being welcome anymore. They always did experience some verbal abuse but this has increased over the weekend and mainly delivered by Indian and Pakistani immigrants working in IT.
If the pound isn't worth as much its not as attractive to be here. One mate is not only supporting his own family but pretty much his entire extended family and carries a lot of weight on his shoulders. So he will follow the money and is lucky enough to speak 6 languages fluently so has more choice than most.
2 of them managed to switch jobs from edinburgh to madrid very quickly.
SIL & OH are in Italy, they're saying people are annoyed that we've created instability and & increased the risk of economic damage and that this will be a factor when we start to negotiate trade deals etc.....
They also say that, much like the migrant workers inside the UK, their feeling of isolation has increased dramatically and that there's a definite feeling that we're no longer 'all in it together', whenever people hear their accents it's mentioned and their feeling is that overnight we've become disliked externally and that the UK has become a nastier place internally.
FIL in Italy said (and I won't do the accent) "Mamma Mia!!! Half of English People don't learn from the 2 World War"
Bearing in mind I'm pretty certain some of my relatives bombed some of his in the Sicily campaign, I really don't understand what he's talking about.....
HTH
They also say that, much like the migrant workers inside the UK, their feeling of isolation has increased dramatically and that there's a definite feeling that we're no longer 'all in it together', whenever people hear their accents it's mentioned and their feeling is that overnight we've become disliked externally and that the UK has become a nastier place internally.
FIL in Italy said (and I won't do the accent) "Mamma Mia!!! Half of English People don't learn from the 2 World War"
Bearing in mind I'm pretty certain some of my relatives bombed some of his in the Sicily campaign, I really don't understand what he's talking about.....
HTH
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