EU BYTES
having grown up going to UK schools and attending UK universities. I have several friends from the UK who are based in Europe and have been concerned about their future. I don’t think I have to tell you about the influx of requests for EU passports by UK citizens. And, from my professional side, I advise companies on how to overcome the challenges posed by Brexit. Even I have to say that although it is all well and good if my clients can do their guess work on how to restructure their supply chain based on my analyses, what about the certainty? Conditions for all scenarios have been defined in an ever more detailed fashion, but the cost of guessing will always be undeniably high. I would use the word “gamble” but I think we all enjoy the concept too much to lend it to the world of Brexit. What else? Theresa May has only now decided that it is
time to speak with the opposition, the Labour Party. Do you remember when Theresa May called for general elections in 2017? She believed her majority would become even stronger. Did it? Of course not. She even lost the majority and had to enter a coalition agreement with Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party to compensate. Two things about the DUP: (1) Even (German) Wikipedia considers that it represents members which are “fanatically anti-Catholic”. Must be the right party to have on board
when the prospect of a hard border in Ireland is on the horizon. (2) They are not supporting Theresa May in her deal. The real point I want to make here though is, if you knew that you would have a hard time getting a majority for your deal in your own ranks, why only now look for a real cross-party solution? It is no longer just Brexit that breaks my heart, it is the
way it is being handled. For the next edition, I want to highlight that I will give an in-depth analysis on the upcoming EU Parliament elections, and no don’t worry, it won’t be focused on Brexit. Instead, I will mention now that there are big concerns about the impact of the UK extending Brexit beyond the elections. If they go beyond the elections, the UK will be obliged to hold EU elections. There are many in the EU-27 that do not want the UK to have a say on key issues such as the budget for the next seven years (which is to be finalised towards the end of 2019) and then all of a sudden leave. In the UK there are those that say: what kind of signal would those that expect Brexit to happen receive if the elections were held? I wonder, if the UK does hold elections, how would the protest vote manifest itself?
Greetings from Brussels.
APRIL 2019 31
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