A picture from Belfast

My daughter has gone to Northern Ireland on holiday. She's has just sent me two pictures, which she has taken in the neighborhood of the Catholic community in Belfast. 

The first photo just above doesn't need any explaination.

Have a nice weekend 

 

Expiry of post-Brexit transition

Do I need a passport to get the UK? Unfortunately, yes! From January 1st,  2021, free movement of people between the UK and EU will end. And from 2022 British people must pay for an electronic authorisation to travel to the EU countries.

Actually, it seems the UK and EU might find themself in a "no-deal" situation on January 1st. As a consequence,  from January 1st  Brexit will change many things. For instance, to visit Britain we have to make sure we have at least six months left on our passport. In addition,  importers and exporters have to label many goods, such as meat, fish, and plants in specific way. Food products shipped from the UK have to comply with EU standards. 

The good news is that lorries can continue to drive across the border between the Republic of Ireland (which remains in the EU Single Market) and Northern Ireland (which leaves the EU, as part of the UK).

The five pictures below taken in 2018 show some places in London. I have been to the UK three times without a passport, as there wasn't any restriction of free movement of people in Europe.

                    

The last time I went to London I saw the roads covered with show ❄☃️

The Single Market is vital to Scottish companies

Since June 2016 most Irish people have been thinking what happens if Scotland remains in the EU by leaving the UK. Like Scotland, the majority in Northern Ireland voted to remain in the EU. Not surprisingly, Northern Ireland may become an independent state of the EU in its own right, considering that its territory is larger than some existing EU members states, such as Luxembourg and Malta. 
With regards to Scotland, three out of four its international trading markets are in the EU (Germany, France, Netherlands, etc.). On June 23, 2016, Scotland voted "Remain" by 62% to 38%, while 55.8 in Northern Ireland voted to stay in the E.U. and 44.2 % "Leave". People who live in those peripheral countries of the UK disagree with the exit from the custom union, as traders fear Brexit will see Scotland and Northern Ireland lose access to the EU Single Market.

With food and drink exports reaching £ 5 billion, Scotland's products are in demand in the world over. As a matter of fact, Scotland is the third largest producer of farmed salmon in the world. Scotch whisky accounts for almost 80% of Scotland's food and beverages export market, not to mention Scottish sales of oil, gas and refined products to the rest of the world.

Scotland voted to stay in the UK in 2014, but against Brexit in 2016, and will probably be driven out of the EU against it will. Of course, most Scottish people think the European association of countries trading with each other without restrictions or tariffs is vital to Scottish economy. For this reason, Scotland should hold another referendum to leave the UK.

As already mentioned by many experts, as soon as the UK leave the EU, British economy will slow sharply, as the country will pay tariffs on goods and services it will export into the EU. For this reason, since June 2016 British business leaders have been afraid the UK will not be an attractive place to do business. According to figures, almost half of UK's exports are to the EU, therefore it's easy to know the impact of Brexit on the UK's economy. For instance, British car makers, who are the UK's biggest exporters, have warned that the UK's departure from the EU Single Market poses the "biggest threat in a generation".

European policy makers have been underlining that whoever decides to leave the European association of countries, which are trading with each other without restrictions or tariffs, cannot expect all obligations to be omitted while keeping its privileges. According to the domino theory, other Members States would follow the UK with the aim to leave the EU. Not surprisingly, things in the EU may get a little out of hand, considering that many anti-europeanism leaders face important elections in the course of this year. Meanwhile, after the House of Commons had rejected the withdrawal agreement, the European Council proposed a one-year flexible extension, with the aim to allow the UK to exit as soon as possible.  

Realistic alternatives to Brexit

As mentioned in my previous post, Brexit is a watershed moment for the UK, as the leader of the major opposition party, Jeremy Corbin, recently said the Parliament "must get on with the vote and move to consider the realistic alternatives".

On December 11 Brexit vote was postponed, and since then the agreement on the UK's withdrawal and future relations had been unchanged. In this perspective, the British Prime Minister promised a "meaningful vote" will take place in the second decade of January 2019. Mrs. May also underlined that a hard border on the island of Ireland will be avoided, as the Prime Minister won "fresh guarantees" at last EU summit.

Meanwhile, the Electoral Commission is focused on the role played by Russia through social media, which are considerd a powerful tool to affect public opinion. As it is know, more than 80 Million Facebook accounts had been illegally harvested by Cambridge Analitica, a British political consulting firm, that targeted people with messages to modify their voting choices. 

There are evidences that Russia is responsible of  80% of disinformation activities in the EU, as Russian interfereces in the Brexit referendum campaign had been detected. Brexit is obviously viewed as a  weakening of the EU, which is one of Russia's interests.

That's why politicians in the EU should focus on preventing this from happening in the future.

General elections or a second referendum

After more than 33 million British voters had decided in favour of leaving, on 29 March 2017 the UK triggered the article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, becoming the first EU member state to do so. Since then the UK has been attempting to strike up a free-trade deal with the EU outside the single-market once it had left the bloc. Under this model, the UK would not have to contribute to the EU budget and would not be bound by the European laws, and applying  regulations and directives concerning immigration, environmental protection, customs, and so on.

Until now, under the terms of EU's customs union, goods that have been legally imported into the bloc can circulate throughout its member states with no further custom checks.

If a trade deal weren't to be agreed between the EU and the UK, a safety net provision would be stated within the withdrawal agreement, with the aim to prevent a hard border being erected between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. As soon as the UK leaves the EU because of Brexit, a physical border could be erected between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. This will raise concerns about the future of the "Good Friday Peace Agreement", a deal signed in 1998, which helped to end conflict in Northern Ireland between nationalists and unionists. The EU single-market covers all members states and four other countries, such Iceland, Norway, Lichtenstein and Switzerland. It allows people, goods, services and money to move as within a single country. Britain would be able to trade freely within the bloc while also striking trade deals with non-EU countries. It would also make financial contributions to the EU budget and accept the free movement of people, goods, services and money.

In this perspective, the UK's Prime Minister believes she is doing the right thing to the country, as Britain needs a deal which protects jobs and borders at the same time. If the UK were to leave the EU with no deal, the country would face deep and grave uncertainty. 

The House of Commons will vote on 11 December on Mrs. May's controversial Brexit deal. And if the Prime Minister were lo lose a vote of that sort of importance, then a question of confidence in her government would be inevitable. Meanwhile, Labour party plays waiting game over general elections or a second referendum.

Three Brexit scenarios

As it's  known, the UK is going to leave the  EU  on 29  March  2019, thanks to 52  percent  of  people  who  voted  in favour of leaving the common  market. And  if  the  UK  and  EU were not  to  reach  a  deal  before  March  2019, consumers and businesses  in England, Scotland, Wales  and Northern Ireland would have to pay more for goods and services.

In other words, a no-deal Brexit would be related to slower processing times for payments between the UK and EU, and custom duties would be paid for goods going to and coming from the European single market. 

At the moment most experts argue there are three possible scenarios:

1. If Mrs May's deal is rejected by the Parliament, the UK would be plunged into crisis.
2. The UK and EU could reach a good deal. In this case little would be likely to change when the UK leaves the EU.
3. According to opinion polls, British society remains deeply divided over Brexit. That's why a second referendum may be "on the table".

With regard to the third scenario above mentioned, we should consider that on 23 June 2016 about 12,000,000 registered voters didn't vote the EU Membership Referendum. We don't know how they would answer the following question: Should the United Kingdom leave the European Union ? And although in June 2016 Leave's margin of victory was 1,269,501 votes, Northern Ireland, Scotland and London voted to remain. 

"Europe will not be made all at once" (Robert Shuman)

On May 7th the result of the French Presidential elections showed that we will not see the "Frexit" in the next years. America's plan is aimed at breaking the EU into smaller pieces, and it didn't work in France. And since June 2016 most people in Scotland and Northern Ireland, who  voted to remain in the EU, have been valuating the bill which has to be paid for exiting the EU. 

According to the terms of the negotiations, which were framed by the EU in  a paper published on March 29th, Britain must pay price for leaving the EU. It  would amount to about US $ 60 billion, including negotiation costs, such as the hire of facilities for the talks, meals and other subsistence allowances.

It's easy to see why Scotland and Northern Ireland are trying  to become two independent states of the EU in their own right.

Cloud of uncertainty over Scotland which leaves the EU

After the UK's Prime Minister had triggered Article 50 of EU Treaty on March 29th, 2017, some Scottish policy makers explained once again how is important to leave the UK through a new independence referendum. And since June 2016 most Irish people have been thinking what happens if Scotland remains in the EU by leaving the UK. Like Scotland, the majority in Northern Ireland voted to remain in the EU. Not surprisingly, Northern Ireland may become an independent state of the EU in its own right, considering that its territory is larger than some existing EU members states, such as Luxembourg and Malta, It may become an independent state of the EU in its own right.

Most economist had assumed that after the vote to leave the EU the British economy will slow sharply. Of course, the UK will pay tariffs on goods and services it will export into the EU. And British business leaders are already afraid the UK will not be an attractive place to do business. 

According to figures, half of British exports are to the EU. As consequence, it is easy to know the impact of Brexit on the UK. For instance, British car makers, who are the UK's biggest exporters, have warned that the UK's departure from the European Union poses the “biggest threat in a generation”.

With regard to Scotland, three out of four its international trading markets are in the EU (France, Germany, Netherland, and USA). With food and drink exports reaching over £ 5 Billions, Scotland products are in demand in the world over.  As a matter of fact, Scotland is the third largest producer of farmed Atlantic salmon in the world, and Scotch whisky account for almost 80% of Scotland's food and beverages export market.

In this perspective, Scottish Prime Minister  recently said she is "fairly certain"  there will be a second referendum on Scottish independence, considering the cloud of uncertainty  over Scotland's future.

Post-Brexit

It isn't easy to understand why some British Ministers are still so optimistic about Brexit. While the UK's Prime Minister triggers Article 50 later this month, the Irish republican party's leader says that "We must defend the democratic mandate of the people to remain in the EU". That's why Northern Ireland should hold a referendum on leaving the United Kingdom and joining the Republic of Ireland. In addition, as it is already known, a decision on calling a new Scottish independence referendum could be made within weeks: the first minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, recently said that plans to take the UK out of the EU's Single market have brought a second Scottish independence referendum "undoubtedly" closer.

Actually, it seems that the British Government is now on an unpleasantly difficult situation: on the one hand, Mrs. May says that British people would have truly left the EU when they would be in control of their own laws. On the other hand, she is still looking for the "Greatest possible access" to EU's Single market after leaving it.

According to an article published in "The Economist" on March 4th, 2017, The European Court of Justice will probably control any transitional arrangement which will be made between post-Brexit UK and EU. If the UK were to need trading relationships with the EU, it wouldn't be free from the shackles of the Luxembourg's Court of Justice. 

Since the 1960s European Court of Justice have been supervising any trade deal signed by the EU. And all non-EU countries that seek close access to the EU's Single Market, such as Switzerland, Iceland and Norway,  have been following the Luxembourg's rules. 

As a result, notwithstanding the country has voted to leave the EU, Britain will not reach the aim to take the UK out of the European Court of Justice. Moreover, Scotland and Northern Ireland will try to leave the UK, and refugees and immigrates will be probably allowed to remain in Britain. It isn't easy to understand why someone is optimistic about Brexit.