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Comment by a-dub | Hacker News Reader

i suspect they will go back, but probably will lose (or willingly give up) their special "you get to keep your own currency" privileges.

doing so would probably be a boon for all of europe and the west. and hopefully a history lesson for the entire west that it's time to finally find a way to solve the yellow journalism/murdochian media problem.

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You regard a country having its own currency as a privilege? When the UK was a member state, the EU mercifully ordained that they could have our own central bank? This view/attitude was a big part of why people wanted to leave.

The straightforward reading of the gp is that keeping its own currency was “special” in the context of the EU, which requires new members to join the Eurozone eventually. It would be a “privilege” insofar as it is an exception to the EU’s general policy.

Of course, the UK is not required to rejoin the EU, even if the EU would consider allowing that. Of course, the EU can set any terms of admission. If the UK doesn’t like the terms, it will stay out of the EU. No one is forcing it.

Indignation doesn’t seem like a reasonable reaction here.

All countries in the eu are obliged to eventually adopt the euro. But there is no set timeframe. Also all eu countries have central banks, euro or not. So the uk can promise it will join and never do and that will be fine. There is no “ordaining” here, its what the club wants. Like it join it no enjoy tue misery.

Sweden does it by deliberately missing the convergence criteria. Denmark has an opt-out.

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