The UK’s membership of the EU has come in the wake of intense debate, disagreement, and demonstrations requiring the nation to disengage itself from the regional community as it would lose its sovereignty in many ways. The engagement of the UK with the EU was seen by many as a surrender of the nation’s independence in political and economic decisions. In addition, the nation was largely suspicious of the intentions of the larger region is, hampering the growth of the UK.
Reasons that may be put forward to ascertain that the country has lost its independence include the argument that the UK may not pass legislation that lacks consonance with the entire region. As members of the region, nations are expected to enact legislation that enables the community to move together. This may largely slow down the development of the UK as a result of the lost sovereignty. Further, economic decisions can no longer be made by the nation in isolation, as the country will be bound by the economic agreement that is made between the countries, which will require interdependence between the nations making up the region. As a result of this, for example, the country may not be in a position to enact policies that move the country forward economically to stimulate its economy. Additionally, it is believed that the nation may have to share some of its national resources with the rest of the region in encouraging regional growth, which further takes away the country’s sovereignty.
On the other hand, it may be argued that the EU agreement does not operate to take away the sovereignty of the participating nations but to strengthen and deepen ties between independent and sovereign countries. The EU agreement is made in the region between sovereign and independent countries, which come together in the formation of the community and not as a community that surrenders its separate national allegiances to form a unit. As a result, the community’s existence may only be established on the separate participants retaining their national identities and, to an extent, their sovereignties because the community may cease to exist upon the dissolution of the countries. Consequently, this proves that the national sovereignty of the separate nations is not limited to the engagement of the community.