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Comment by vidarh | Hacker News Reader

The only thing, I think, that might change this, would be if the UK against all odds manages to make Brexit successful. I personally don't think there's any chance of that, but if that were to happen, anti-EU sentiments elsewhere in Europe might grow. I think the reverse is more likely: That Brexit will serve to firm up EU support even more once the full effects become clear... I live in the UK, so I hope I'm wrong and that things will work out ok...

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Ever wondered why the other EU countries didn't make much of a fuss over Brexit? It's because the UK had many privileges from the times when it was needed to establish the EU... and then it didn't even join the Euro. The UK has been an entry point for English speaking businesses into the European market, but it kept all the benefits from that behind an exchange barrier, which is not in the interest of the rest of EU countries. Now, many of those businesses will leave the UK and establish operations in the EU-Eurozone proper, directly contributing to strengthening the Euro instead of the GBP, which will become a further incentive for countries to stay in the EU.

As for the UK, there are other ways for it to survive and even thrive, but whether it will be good or not so much for most of its citizens, remains to be seen.

IOW Ireland is looking increasingly appealing.

But to be honest it is in the interest of the other countries who want the EU to stay to make this really really hard on the UK. And the UK has almost no leverage (or has none to be precise).

So while I absolutely hate to see it happen because I've got lots of friends in the UK, this is either going to hurt badly (hard Brexit), or the UK will simply lose any ability to shape the future of the EU while accepting most of its rules. Don't see any middle ground as the middle ground would massively hurt all other EU countries so its not going to happen.

> And the UK has almost no leverage (or has none to be precise).

Exactly. The UK's main leverage in negotiations was "do what we want or we leave". Now that they're leaving, there's nothing left.

Scientists discover the world's biggest "if".

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