EU as an imagined community

Rather quiet in the Graudian today, as the EU appears to have offered some compromise on the Irish backstop, but the Brexiteers are still playing tough. A bit of ideological background to fill in while we wait:

'The UK no longer feels like home’: the British Europhiles racing for EU passports 

A long piece with individual stories of people wanting to apply for various other nationalities after Brexit. No attempt to do any more than tell their stories, of course -- no assessment of their typicalilty, no critical analysis of motives etc. The responses come from 'more than 1,100 people [who] replied' [to the Guardian's request for stories]. Backup facts include:

200,000 Britons applied in 2018 [for irish citizenship]  About half of these were from Northern Ireland – anyone born on the island of Ireland before 2005 and anyone born there since with a parent who is Irish, British or “entitled to live in Northern Ireland or the Irish state without restriction on their residency” is entitled to Irish citizenship. The other half are Britons living outside Ireland who have suddenly discovered an affinity with the birthplace of a parent or a grandparent. The number of applications has doubled since the referendum,... 200,000 Britons applied in 2018. About half of these were from Northern Ireland t. The number of applications has doubled since the referendum

Examples of reasons include:

[The writer's own family want to] retain a foothold in the EU and a place in the postwar vision of a unified Europe... “I wanted the opportunity to work wherever I chose in Europe and did not welcome the fact that the opportunity had been removed by the Brexiteers"... England...it’s who I am, but Ireland will give me the freedom to be who I want to be.”...“Britain no longer feels like home, as it has rejected Europe and I have not.”...“Getting an Irish passport has enabled me to live abroad without the worry of my tuition fees being increased to the same level as non-EU students or having to apply for some kind of student visa.”...[from a family originally fleeing from Germany before the War} “I was brought up only speaking English because my parents wanted us to feel as though we belonged to the UK. I am now applying for German citizenship alongside my British citizenship. The spur was Brexit. German citizenship will allow me, my daughter and grandchildren to remain European, which gives us more options if things get very difficult in this country. Underlying that, though, is a sense of righting a wrong, returning to the roots – at least mentally – that belonged to my parents and of which they were unjustly deprived. If the German government now wants to make amends, I welcome that.”..Brexit is offering blue passports. That doesn’t disguise the fact the passport is being devalued.”..That makes a new passport essential, in case I want to work in Switzerland or elsewhere in the EU.”..“I had always thought we would return to the UK; I no longer know if that will be possible, but at least I know that my family will be able to stay together in France. I will be able to live and work in France indefinitely and this is a great relief for me. My national identity used to be hugely important to me. Now I am embarrassed to be British and feel quite lost.”...For us, freedom of movement is a joy and a privilege. Our region is completely dependent on the border being open and invisible and we can’t imagine anyone wanting to reintroduce checks that have been removed. For my kids, Brexit is incomprehensible.”..“I have decided most probably never to return to the UK, as my family doesn’t feel welcome,” he says. “This is a shame, as I’m a UK-qualified teacher with 15 years’ experience, although it has to be said that teaching in Sweden is far less stressful than in the UK.”...But after the referendum I realised that it is about identity as well. I feel Swedish and British, European and Indian. I don’t see that as contradictory, although England versus Sweden in the World Cup was tricky.”...[a pilot! said]...“It’s partly about career security,” he says. “But for me it’s mainly about how I feel about my identity. When you go to the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand – crossing the border, you’re made to feel like an outsider because you don’t have the right to be there. I don’t want to feel like that going to Europe.”

Some European countries do not seem quite as welcoming as the Irish. The UK seems fairly straightforward and cheap. In Germany, by contrast:

“It took a year, huge amounts of paperwork, an exam to prove that I was fluent in German and another on the German law and constitution,” she says. “The whole thing cost around €1,200, but now I finally have the guarantee of the same freedom of movement and security that I had for the previous 40 years.”..

The writer sums up:

I believe Gompertz’s [the pilot] more emotive argument resonates. For almost 50 years, despite the half-heartedness of the British political class, we have been citizens of Europe, with unfettered access to that beautiful, varied, culturally rich continent. Some part of us could claim to be French or Spanish, Italian or German. We had fought many wars with our neighbours; now we could enjoy a long peace and claim a stake in their wonderful countries.

Brexit may change this for ever. While my wife and son are safe in their new nationalities, the angry Welshman in our family – me – is about to lose his EU passport and the fantasy that he is Spanish. Is this really the end of the dream? If I set up a small business in Plovdiv, how long will it be before I qualify for Bulgarian citizenship?

Vote Remain because people retain a fantasy about freedom in the EU, feel unwelcome when they travel,  or because there are practical advantages (Much more understandable -- I'd apply to Ireland myself if I could). The clincher is that a Welsh Guardian correspondent is worried about the problems of setting up a hypothetical small business in Bulgaria!