For the EU's economy, Brexit is like the EU28 becoming the EU10

The 19 smallest countries would have to leave, before the EU's economy would shrink smaller than it will after Brexit

Latest IMF figures show the massive impact of Brexit on the EU

Every April the IMF releases its official figures for the size of the world’s economies by GDP in the previous year. In this case, we're looking at 2018.

For the third year in a row, Brexit Facts4EU.Org shows just what a massive impact Brexit makes on the EU’s economic size. This information has been used by pro-Brexit MPs in Parliament many times. Here we bring you our latest update.

Brexit Facts4EU.org Summary

The UK’s economy is bigger than 18 EU member countries – COMBINED
This shows the dramatic impact to the EU of Brexit
Only if 19 other EU member states left simultaneously, would the EU’s total economy be smaller than when the UK leaves
In effect, Brexit is equivalent to the EU28 becoming the EU10, in terms of the EU’s economic size

All these countries could leave the EU, and they would not have the same impact on the size of the EU's economy as when the UK leaves:-

Ireland
Denmark
Finland
Czech Republic
Romania
Portugal
Greece
Hungary
Slovak Republic
Luxembourg
Bulgaria
Croatia
Slovenia
Lithuania
Latvia
Estonia
Cyprus
Malta

Why is this important?

The EU is not a country – not yet anyway, although its moves towards becoming a superstate are now undisguised. For the moment it is a collection of 28 countries, soon to be 27.

There is a problem with the way the EU constantly refers to itself as the EU28. The problem lies in the relative sizes and importance of each of its member states.

Listening to MPs and the BBC, the public can easily get the impression that the UK is of little importance to the EU as it is only one out of 28 members. When the UK leaves, the EU28 will become the EU27 – at least until the impoverished Balkans states start joining from 2025.

In economic terms, though, the EU has expanded by adding small countries which have little impact on the overall size of ‘the Single Market’ and ‘the Customs Union’, whose virtues Remain MPs are continuously extolling.

The simple fact is that the countries of the EU do NOT represent the ‘level playing field’ which Monsieur Barnier and his colleagues can't stop talking about.

You can now download this information as a simple, one-page PDF leaflet. We hope you find this useful and will send it to your MP.

Observations

Why we are ‘cross with Malta’

To illustrate the facts above, let’s take Malta, a small island 50 miles south of Italy, with Tunisia to the west and Libya to the south. It is one of the 28 member states of the EU.

Since the Referendum, the diminutive Maltese Prime Minister has ingratiated himself with his EU bosses - and has deflected attention away from his corruptions scandals at home – by taking a hard line on Brexit. Even worse, he so often manages to get himself seated next to Theresa May at EU summits and dinners.

The reality is that Malta is a tiny country. In terms of population, the Maltese PM is ruling over a town the size of Kirklees in West Yorkshire. And yet he has a vote at the EU Council where important decisions are made by the 28 leaders of the member states.

Imagine the Council Leader of Kirklees, sitting around a table with the Merkels and Macrons every three months, making decisions of global importance? (No disrespect to the Kirkless Council Leader, of course.)

Imagine him making the decision to extend Article 50 to 31 October - a decision which affects a country that has a population 139 times greater than his?

This is the reality of the EU, not the glossy impression given by Remain MPs that the UK is ‘too small’ to flourish as an independent country. If they knew the first thing about the EU, they would know this.

The usual caveat

We love Europe, hate the EU. When we produce reports such as the one above we get attacked. Each time we have to point out that our criticisms are not about the people of the individual countries which make up the EU – quite the reverse.

We are simply pointing out the gross inequality of the EU in terms of its composition, as well as criticising its bureaucratic government and also sometimes criticising individual politicians in its member states.

[ Sources: IMF | EU Commission | UK Government ]

Brexit Facts4EU.Org, Sunday 28 Apr 2019

Something to say about this? Scroll down for reader comments

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Reader Comments 9

1. appreciative-but-frustrated-leave-voter, uk , Sunday, April 28, 2019, 07:17:

Been reading you for over two years. First attempt at commenting because I'm now getting angry.
Can't tell you how helpful you've been. Great facts & well made points.
I see your stuff linked on twiitter & facebook all the time from ordinary people. Why don't MPs, ERG, UKIP, Brexit Party & others shout it from the rooftops?
Sorry. Frustrated & want this done. I want Brexit now. Too much to ask?

2. Concerned Expat , Sunday, April 28, 2019, 08:04:

"Too much to ask?" - it should have happened the day after the referendum, proper negotiations could then have been started from outside the eu.
What we have is a parliament not fit for purpose, incredibly arrogant and unwilling to carry out the mandate of the people which was clearly leave.
I agree with what Ann Widdecombe said about the quality of parliament and especially of the PM.
I agree with the excellence of this website and the facts and the way they are presented so elequently and precisely.

3. About social media... , Sunday, April 28, 2019, 09:07:

Well, Appreciative leave-voter, than you're lucky if you see Facts4eu posts on Facebook and Twitter. I'm a follower of them on both platforms but there are funny things going on there... I often don't see posts, certainly had difficulty to open the defence one-pagers. Other times they won't let me share posts. I'm not an extremist in any shape or form, never have been. The big social media companies must have their opinion-based filters set up, or 'highly qualified' censorship for things that don't fit their agenda.

4. Paul Nelson , Sunday, April 28, 2019, 09:25:

Can you make more articles available to the standard subscriber, or maybe give an option to read an advanced subscriber post with a small donation. I'm paying standard but don't seem to get the choice to read many articles.

5. Sydney Ashurst , Sunday, April 28, 2019, 10:56:

Slightly of topic.
With the Elections that should never have happened we are set to choose MEP's to sit with the other 27 member States.
Both Conservative and Labour Parties are deeply divided over taking part. I have extracted a few paragraphs written by Melanie Onn the Labour MP for Great Grimsby. Full article on PoliticsHome
"Backing a second European referendum will show Labour is "tin-eared" and damage its election chances"
"Unless something truly ground-breaking happens - say, a second sun emerges, there’s a plague of locusts or Parliament finally succumbs to the Victorian sewage system and seeps into the Thames - it is likely that the UK will be having European elections ‪on 23 May.‬ This will not be by design, by preference, nor with much enthusiasm. So little enthusiasm, in fact, that Conservative association members in the Midlands have withdrawn their labour and refuse to campaign for the party’s MEPs.
A test of the country’s antipathy or zeal towards it (EU), a reflection of the current Brexit mess and likely to bring about extremes in opinion - a clear divide, exactly like the 2016 referendum, between the cities, the student regions, towns and coastal areas.
Towns and coastal areas, on the other hand, have felt the impact of 10 years of economic squeeze, 40 years of industrial decline that membership of the EU has not arrested, geographic isolation, and have been left reliant on working for a shrinking public sector, seasonal tourist trade or zero-hours contract factory and retail work. Is it any wonder they want a change they hope will be for the better?
But views in the towns and coastal regions really haven’t changed all that much since 2016, and in some cases have hardened towards a preference of a no-deal exit from the EU".

6. Totally disillusioned with Westminster 'bubble' , Sunday, April 28, 2019, 16:59:

After this parliament the conservatives are dead as a party. Led by a donkey to their electoral doom and still the ship will not steer in the obvious direction of a no-deal exit from the EU. Steering that direction would have secured the conservatives, but with the present so called WA (treaty) and current PM, there is no hope for the country. She is the problem.

7. kzb , Monday, April 29, 2019, 12:25:

All this is undoubtedly true. Unfortunately, Olly Robbins opted not to use any of this as leverage in the negotiations, and here we are stuck with the appalling Withdrawal Agreement. As Yanis Varoufakis said on 'Question Time', only a country defeated in war would sign such an agreement. It's too late now but I'd like to know exactly how we ended up with such a poor deal compared to what we could have had.

8. Chris M , Tuesday, June 28, 2022, 22:07:

Well done all you idiots that voted Leave. It’s now 2022 and there are zero benefits. One day you will realise you screwed up our country and our kids futures. THANKS SUCKERS

9. Lynn , Wednesday, June 29, 2022, 06:39:

Thank you Chris M for your insightful and well thought through comment. It shines a bright light to the deep and meaningful way rejoiners think. I'm sure it will convince an awful lot of people to switch to your side, well done! : ) Do keep your wisdom coming, please.

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