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The United Kingdom has definitively severed its ties with the European Union (EU), putting an end to almost half a century of participation in the European bloc. What’s next now?
A fantastic future as Boris Johnson predicts or a risky leap into the unknown as Brexit detractors fear? After nearly 50 years in the European Union, the UK opens a new solo chapter on January 1, 2021.
At 11pm UK time and midnight across much of continental Europe, the country definitively left the single market and the EU customs union. Due to the pandemic, there were no celebrations. This is what the new stage that Europe is beginning has to know.
What will change on January 1?
The UK officially left the EU on January 31, 2020, but continued to apply its rules during a transition period that ended this Thursday at 23:00 GMT (18:00 Colombian time), midnight in continental Europe. As of Friday, the country is back on its own.
Thanks to the trade agreement reached a week ago by London and Brussels at the end of long and difficult last minute negotiations, the prospect of tariffs and quotas for goods crossing the English Channel was eliminated.
But even with a deal, the future is far from perfect. British exporters will have to submit new customs documents to prove that their products are fit for the single European market.
London urged companies to prepare, but industries say the government has failed to provide IT systems and support staff on time, increasing the risk of chaos.
What is “Global Britain”?
Defending the idea of a “global Britain”, London seeks to revitalize its bilateral relations with the rest of the world, especially with its “closest and most important ally”, the United States, in Johnson’s words.
But he lost a trump card with the defeat of Donald Trump, an enthusiastic Brexiter. And the coronavirus pandemic has hit the British economy hard, threatening the bright future promised by the Conservative prime minister.
The idea is that the UK does not close in on itself but opens itself abroad to forge free trade agreements around the world.
“Now that global Britain has returned it is time for manufacturers, men and women of action and innovators to help us write our most exciting chapter to date,” said International Trade Minister Liz Truss in October. , promising future exports of all kinds of British goods, from creams to robots.
In addition to the EU, the United Kingdom has already signed post-Brexit trade agreements with Japan, Canada, Switzerland, Singapore and several Latin American countries led by Mexico and Chile. And it is negotiating others with the United States, Australia and New Zealand, among others.
The agreements in preparation or concluded, including the one signed with Brussels, represent 80% of British foreign trade by 2022, says the government, which remodeled the Foreign Ministry to integrate its generous development aid into the British diplomatic agenda.
What will happen in the UK?
Johnson’s big promise in the legislatures last December was to “carry out Brexit” and then end the growing economic disparities between wealthy finance London and the rest of the country, especially the post-industrial areas to the north.
But this “upgrade” program through large investments, such as the HS2 high-speed line that must operate in the center and north of England, was put aside due to the pandemic.
The government insists however that its long-term goals remain and that the money London has contributed so far to the European budget will be better spent on British soil.
Some advocates of Brexit called for a radical revision of the economic model to transform the country into a “Singapore on the Thames”, a kind of tax haven with an ultra-deregulated financial sector that becomes a powerful rival at the gates of the EU.
But this was prevented by the terms of the trade agreement, with which Brussels made sure to avoid any unfair competition. The government ensures that the conclusion of trade agreements will not be detrimental to key issues such as public health or agri-food standards, especially in its negotiation with the United States.
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