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Brexit could have been a lot easier. Britain could have left the EU alone, but remained in the EU internal market and in the EU customs union. Then the Brexit negotiations would have been a simple matter. Britain could have been a lot like Norway – a country that is outside the EU, but enjoys many of the economic benefits of the EU.
But the British don’t want that.
The paradox of that Britain is leaving the single market today, is that Margaret Thatcher, the British Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990, was one of the most driving forces behind. And the EU internal market is about liberalization and free trade: things that right-wing politician Margaret Thatcher had good feelings for.
But the EU single market was not just Thatcher’s child. He was a son who had with the French socialist Jacques Delors: president of the European Commission. Thatcher and Delors had different ideas about their son’s future. For Delors, a common market was a step towards a European Union. For Thatcher, it was a final point: a “success, but not anymore.”
And in many ways, it was Delors who won.
Jacques Delors and Margaret Thatcher.
Photo: Bob Dear / AFP
It was certainly the result the product a liberal cause. Ask a member of the Swedish left-wing party what he thinks about the EU common market: “institutionalized neoliberalism”, he will say with some probability. But this should be music to conservative British ears, right?
British Conservatives have no problem with “neoliberalism” if that term can now be used. They have problems with the fact that it is “institutionalized.” What Thatcher overlooked were the long-term consequences of creating the common market through legally binding EU treaties. Therefore, it linked Britain more closely to European law. And it is these ties that many British Conservatives today are turning to. They think that it is fundamentally wrong for European law to prevail over British law.
This is the first reason why the UK leaves the EU single market.
The second is about about immigration.
Norway must, despite not being a member of the EU, sign the EU principle of free movement. EU citizens have the right to work in Norway and Norwegians in the rest of the EU. “If you want to participate in the free movement of goods, you must also participate in the free movement of people.” Great Britain could not accept that principle.
At the same time, immigration is not the whole explanation. If that had been, Theresa May would still have been Prime Minister. She negotiated a deal with the EU that meant Britain could radically reduce its immigration from Europe. But the Brexiters did not stand up and applaud her.
No, they kicked her out. Instead, Boris Johnson became prime minister.
Let’s go now to the third reason why the UK has chosen to leave the EU single market: trade and identity. Trade policy is not just about economics. It is also about the place of a country in the world.
Boris Johnson understood that.
When World War II ended, “imperial primacy” was one of the cornerstones of British economic policy. It was a principle that said there should be lower tariffs on products from the former British colonies than on products from other countries. Through trade, one could hold the ancient empire together, was the idea.
When Great Britain became a member of the EU Customs Union, this changed. The idea of the customs union, which the British will also leave tonight, was that Europe would have common customs duties vis-à-vis other countries outside the EU. The point was that then it was not necessary to carry out border checks between, for example, France and Italy to check whether the wine in the truck actually came from France (and not from Chile).
But for the British, it became problematic. They had to abandon their principle of “imperial precedence.” It went against his idea of his own place in the world.
Margaret Thatcher.
Photo: CF Tham / AP
When Margaret Thatcher dropped her purse in Brussels in the early 1980s and demanded a refund of the British EU tax, it was a lot about this. Britain was forced to pay high tariffs on imports from its former colonies and, at the same time, was hurt by the EU’s common agricultural policy. No, at least we don’t intend to pay for this!
Today’s Brexiters are talking not in terms of “imperial precedence”. Although they mean something similar. For them, Brexit consists precisely in commercially linking Great Britain with its former colonies. Not to the EU. And this is what makes Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal possible.
It is a political victory for him. But the financial cost can be enormous. For all intents and purposes, tomorrow Britain will remain 34 kilometers from the French coast.
Geography is difficult to change.
And it plays an important role economically.
Read more:
The EU approves the Brexit deal
