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Since Britain decided on the eve of the summer solstice in 2016 to secede from the EU, a lot has happened in the world. Donald Trump won a presidential election and lost a presidential election. Prince Harry has managed to meet Meghan Markle, marry Meghan Markle, have children with Meghan Markle, and leave the British royal family with Meghan Markle.
To give some examples.
But the Brexit negotiations have only continued.
Here are the top five reasons it has taken so long.
British uncertainty about what Brexit really was
When 52% of the British electorate voted to leave the EU, it was not at all clear what this term meant. Did the voters mean that they just wanted to leave the EU, or even the EU common market and its customs union? All of this was left for political leaders to figure out, which took time. Furthermore, the UK was an internally divided country. In England and Wales, the majority of voters voted for Brexit, but not in Scotland and Northern Ireland. All of this meant that the UK spent, in principle, the first three years of the negotiation mainly negotiating with itself. Not with Brussels.
Theresa May signs the UK’s formal announcement that she intends to leave the EU on March 28, 2017.
Photo: ROTA
Theresa May did not have a majority in favor of Brexit in Parliament
It was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, David Cameron, who called for a referendum on Brexit. However, he himself campaigned against the country’s exit from the EU and when his side lost the referendum he decided to resign. Instead, Theresa May became Prime Minister. His big problem was that he did not have a real majority for Brexit in the British House of Commons. Despite the fact that people had voted in favor of leaving the EU, the majority of MPs were against it.
Theresa May decided to call elections in the spring of 2017. She simply wanted to obtain a larger majority and thus facilitate the Brexit negotiations. Instead, the exact opposite happened. Due to a well-run campaign, May lost what small majority she had, chose to remain prime minister, but became dependent on the right-wing Protestant Northern Ireland party DUP.
It wasn’t really until Boris Johnson became prime minister and then won the elections in December 2019 that a pro-Brexit majority emerged in Parliament. After that, the process went faster because there was more agreement on the British side.
Boris Johnson in the lower house in 2019, where he tries to persuade MPs to vote on his Brexit proposal.
Photo: Jessica Taylor / Parliament of the United Kingdom
Trade agreements take time
Until January 31 this year, the Brexit negotiations were devoted almost exclusively to discussing Britain’s exit conditions. The most difficult part of the debate, that of what Britain’s future relationship with the EU will look like, has been compressed in the last eleven months.
It was always a gamble if it was possible to negotiate a business deal in such a short time. In most cases, this type of negotiation usually takes several years. 2020 has also been a year in which, to say the least, other things have happened in the world as well.
North Ireland
The topic that has caused the most headaches during the Brexit negotiations is Northern Ireland. With Brexit, the border between Northern Ireland and Ireland will become an external border of the EU and goods will have to be controlled in some way. This is terribly sensitive from a political point of view due to Northern Ireland’s violent history. There was no peace in the region until 1998. To add to the problems, the 1998 peace agreement is based on both Ireland and the UK being members of the EU. When the UK is no longer there, many tricky situations arise. All of this has taken a lot of time and energy to try to resolve during the hearing.
The Brexit that the British people had been promised does not exist
The basic problem of the Brexit negotiations has been the enormous expectations of leaving the EU that existed in the United Kingdom. During the Brexit campaign in 2016, voters were told they could regain national control over their immigration policy and remain members of the EU common market. During the negotiations, it soon became clear that this would not work: there was no reason for the rest of the EU to allow the British to scoop up all the raisins on the cake in this way. Many warned of this already in 2016, but then they were not listened to.
