Except that Britain decided a few years back that Cambridge is not in Europe, it is in Britain.
And I'm not sure that building houses is what created sili valley.
And I'm not sure that building houses is what created sili valley.
Now, those self-imposed sanctions mean that this probably won't go anywhere, but that's another story.
And everything the past years of UK politics has shown doesn't instill any kind of confidence — and people like me would've been the kind they would like to attract.
I'm a tech worker in Europe that has lived in London in the past. I wouldn't live there again now that Brexit has happened and I don't think this is going to succeed because I suspect many feel the same.
I don't claim that particular flavour of simple-minded populism wouldn't fly elsewhere (sadly: it does), but the way in which the whole thing was carried out in the UK was... quite unique. I had the feeling that the majority of politicians who implemented it privately knew this was a stupid idea and pushed through ("deliverrred") anyways with a very british bone-headedness. As if they accidentally queued for a face-slapping, when in fact they intended to queue for a free hug: After realising their mistake they were more afraid of the looks they would receive if they stepped out of the queue than with the consequences of getting slapped. Only this made them look even more ridiculous.
Switzerland and Norway are also not in the EU.
See https://visaguide.world/europe/switzerland-visa/long-stay/
e.g. as an EU citizen you can work in Ireland without a visa, which is not part of Schengen
The EU is messy.
the EFTA is not a superset of Schengen, they are completely different treaties and are unrelated
(other than the fact all EFTA countries also separately signed the Schengen agreement)
> Ireland is part of EFTA but not Schengen.
Ireland is not "part of" (signatory of) EFTA, it is however part of the EEA
> The EU is messy.
EFTA is not the EU, and originally Schengen was nothing to do with the EC either
To go back to the original point, Switzerland is in both EFTA and Schengen, the country offers visa free long stay and the possibility to work there without the hassle of getting a work permit. All of this, plus high wages is a great way to attract talents from neighboring countries.
neither of which have anything to do with freedom of movement of workers
Switzerland is the worst example you could have picked, it is the only example of a EFTA country that is not in the EEA and not subject to the freedom of movement rules in the same way
what you should have said originally was EEA (not Schengen)
venn diagram: https://i2.wp.com/thisbugslife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/0...
in terms of the UK, an order of magnitude more emigrated outside of the EU than exercising freedom of movement within it
(despite having to put up with stuff like visas)
I'm in the minority of European who would love to see English being adopted as a sort of official common second-language. That will never happen but I think it would be fantastic if the region would feel less fragmented.
Schengen means:
- employees don't need a visa (they also don't need to deal with the insecurity of not getting that visa extended, or being tied to one company that can exploit them)
- employees can use their home countries health insurance (although when they live there for longer it makes sense to get a local one instead)
- retirement funds
- not to start with all the things that are easier for employers
If I move somewhere it is not just my work that moves there, it is my whole life. I might find love in your country, I might have family and for that reason I need security that I cannot be thrown out on a whim just because some clerk decided they don't wanna extend my visa anymore until I jump through 50 more hoops. If I am in a seeked after profession why would I even bother to go there if the rest of the EU is much simpler to go to and friendlier towards me? Because Britain is a great empire? Probably not.
The only thing UK got going for it is the language, and quite frankly it is not that big of an advantage as one would think it is. I guess someone who only speaks english will not have a hard time living in Berlin or Vienna for example.
Also Switzerland and Norway have both been in huge diplomatic efforts to align as well with the EU as possible where it made sense for them. This non-membership certainly wasn't free — but those two nations could afford it. Not so sure about the UK here.
I have seen interviews with brits that were surprised that leaving Schengen also means they cannot travel freely within the EU. They basically wanted all the goodies without being part and the rest of the EU should accept it because it is them.
Maybe the only positive thing about Brexit is that the total dillusion caused by decades of UK politicians and media blaming everything on the EU might now show some cracks and reveal that it was really just a way to scam their own people all along.
Maybe more interestingly... Turkey is (and has been for a while) a member of NATO. The last time I was there they were still using the Lira, though it was easy enough to exchange Euros. But there's talk about Turkey joining (I think) the EU as part of the deal for Ukraine to eventually join NATO. So if Turkey joined the EU, would it suddenly be in Europe? My understanding was that Asia started at the Bosphorus, so the majority of Turkey is in Asia Minor.
Not to mention Cyprus is supposed to join the Schengen area at some point. Heck. I don't even know if Cyprus is considered part of "Europe."
I think my point was even geography sometimes avoids simple categorization. And the Britons all seem to be anti-European. So it seems odd Cambridge wants to build the "European Sili Valley" in a country where the majority of those who voted, voted to reject their European association.