a stunning results the UK votes to leave
the EU after 43 years in an historic
referendum when the UK voted to leave
the European Union in 2016
some predicted it would be the beginning
of the end for the EU it could be
followed by other countries that is the
start of the end of the European Union
as we know I think there were at least
15 populist parties across Europe who
advocated a referendum to leave bu but
since then the EU and the way its
members feel about it have changed the
people are slightly more domestic now
maybe breaking will not happen we don't
know could the brexit referendum have
actually benefitted the European Union
Andrea Venson is on a mission today he's
in Milan drumming up support for one of
Europe's newest political parties volt
Europa is a pan-european movement with
political parties in 14 different
countries a phone vault because of
brexit Rexy was the first spark that
told me that our European values were in
danger I figured that something was
needed to try to steer the direction
that the UK but not only you episode was
taking and so the idea of creating some
vuo P&A european political movement we
dream about a Europe there's more United
more cohesive where countries are not
left behind but andrea has his work cut
out for him across Europe a third of
people want to leave the EU and Italy
has the third highest rate at 44 percent
but he also has good reason to hope
because since 2016 optimism about the
future of the European Union has grown
by over 20% and people feel more
attached to the EU than before the
brexit referendum so what's going on is
the European Union really gaining
popularity in some ways I think the EU
is stronger because of brexit brexit
makes the EU feel like safety
it makes the EU feel like the
organization that protects them from the
kind of chaos that ensues when you try
to leave and that really changes
people's attitudes towards what Europe
is doing
even the most Euroskeptic political
parties are singing a different tune I
can remember marine lepen appearing at a
press conference just off the British
referendum the result on the wall behind
it was a prisoner of two hands breaking
free of shackles and it said breaks it
no surprise really completely readable
if you look at what bring the patent
argues today I think she's almost
Thunder there's a u-turn because what
she is trying to advocate in France is
not so much for exit and as a performing
the EU from within a few it's a
different sort of year skepticism
because it's not about leaving Europe
it's about transforming Europe and
trying to create a sort of Europe that
she she have her machinist friends think
suits their agenda better I think there
were at least 15 populist parties across
Europe as of 2016 who advocated a
referendum to leave EU or just advocated
leaving the EU
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maybe one or two of them still do
explicitly it's really almost dropped
off the agenda it looked like the brexit
vote would pose an existential threat to
the EU but it's not the first time the
EU has faced serious problems since it
was established and some of the most
serious ones have appeared in the past
decade in 2008 the world financial
crisis led to recession in Europe
countries like Ireland Portugal and
Greece had to be bailed out by the EU
and were forced to implement austerity
measures unemployment rates hit record
highs and recessions deepened this debt
crisis was soon followed by the migrant
crisis of 2015 when more than 1 million
refugees and migrants streamed into
Europe many of them were fleeing war and
chaos in the Middle East
no country was hit harder by both these
upheavals than Greece when the financial
crisis hit
Greece was already borrowing quite a lot
of in its debt to GDP ratio was over a
hundred percent and it had a very large
deficit over the period of eight years
GDP fell by something like 27% that has
left a lot of people much poorer than
the way before a few years later Greece
was on the front line of the other
European crisis mass migration I think
the U has not I realized what the cost
degrees has been of the migrant crisis
that he has had to cope with and also
not just financially but in many ways
economically but also socially having to
cope for this Greece I think has dealt o
that reasonably well and given his very
limited resources and given the fact
that through the period of the migrants
arriving in Greece he was also having to
impose very strict austerity
zone population so it hasn't been easy
Andy you could have been possibly more
helpful a recent poll revealed that
Greeks more so than any other European
nationality think that their interests
are not taken into account by the EU yet
Greece hasn't turned against the
European Union since the brexit
referendum the share of groups wanting
to leave the EU decreased by over 20%
from almost half to just a third both
the economic and migrant crisis in
Europe have receded and the EU has
survived the people are slightly more
optimistic now than before so I think
the Italians are trying to hope for a
better future for the new the founder of
votes believes there is a historic
opportunity there are two our lives in
front of us one needs to make the you a
true political union they can actually
support
drastic changes in our society and the
other part is they want to becoming a
loose coalition of states we know much
future and I'm really gonna fight strong
for the first time tentative and they
see plenty of young people they believe
in the same values
that's ambition for true unity is always
going to be difficult the EU is made up
of 28 different countries each with its
own history and interests but what it
has shown is that it has a survival
instinct over the past decade every time
that the EU has faced a crisis that
looked like it might be an existential
crisis it's become abundantly clear that
EU leaders have the political will to
hold the Union together that European
countries have so much at stake in the
survival of this Union that ultimately
they do what needs to be done to live
together
it's just that they often do that at the
very last minute
hi I'm Katie and I directed this film if
you'd like to find out more information
then please click the link opposite
where you'll find further economists
coverage on brexit and some of the
research studies and data that we use in
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