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Photo: Jason Alden / Bloomberg |
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson can finally declare that “Brexit is over”, four and a half years after the referendum. The British and Europeans drew up a free trade agreement in just nine months. Businesses on both sides of the English Channel sigh in relief that Brexit was prevented at the last minute.
The price for the pace is high: the agreement is with the lowest common denominator. Despite 2,000 pages, this is a small deal that basically guarantees duty-free trade in goods. Hardline conservatives have achieved their goal: a broad break with the EU. They successfully escaped the softer Brexit that Johnson’s predecessor Theresa May wanted. There will be many new barriers, and both businesses and consumers will pay their prices.
But this agreement marks the end of the Brexit movement. From now on, the pendulum will swing back. Relations between the UK and the EU are likely to converge gradually in the coming years, as the island is still only 30 kilometers from France and negotiations between neighbors never end. Ask Switzerland.
There are countless areas in which European countries, including the UK, can and should work together. Foreign policy, security policy and climate policy anyway, but also in terms of science and culture. Sooner or later, even a kind of freedom of movement may be possible again.
More importantly, this trade agreement has created a foundation on which to build. Yes, it is a bad business if you compare it with what the two countries had a few years ago and what would theoretically be possible. But a bad deal is better than no deal.
Competition will reactivate the business
The EU’s fears that an unregulated pirate nest will now appear outside its doors are unfounded, at the latest since the start of the pandemic. The kingdom is now discovering state interventionism and is on its way to becoming Paris on the Thames. In addition, the country will need time to recover from the double impact of the coronavirus and Brexit.
We should expect the UK to become a strong competitor in the future, especially in areas like finance and technology, where Europeans need to catch up. Competition is good for business and it cannot hurt if it forces the EU to be more agile.
The effect can be seen even with the approval of the coronavirus vaccine: the fact that the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has advanced the start of vaccination is due not only to the rush of the British.
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