Sunday 18 December 2016

Independence parties across Europe

While moderate politicians, who in massive number defend E.U., turn toward Europe as a source of identity, power, and hope, across the old continent populists are preparing a strong opposition to European interference in areas like immigration and refugee policy.  
On the one side, we are still hearing that "European Union is a unique community of shared solidarity and values". On the other side, English people decided to leave the E.U. after the leader of the U.K. Independence party had spread his slogan "We want our country back" (focusing more on immigration to Britain from other E.U. states).
Opposition to immigration has become a cornerstone of the hard right parties in Germany, France, Austria and the Netherlands. But most E.U. leaders think Europe shouldn't retreat from areas like asylum policy. And after the Brexit referendum they underlined that whoever decides to leave "that family" cannot expect all obligations to be omitted while keeping its privileges.
Meanwhile, the U.K. economic growth forecast for 2017 has been slashed from 2.2 to 1.4 percent in the wake of the Brexit referendum. It's easy to expect that business leaders will pay more taxes once the U.K. leaves the European Union.
Furthermore, the competitiveness of the UK automotive sector, which has been hugely successful in boosting exports, creating jobs and generating economic growth in recent years, will be affect by tax barriers on cars related to Brexit. Consequently, carmakers in Britain are still deciding on where to build their next vehicles.