No more procrastination. This time London will really slam the door.
The British Parliament on December 20 is preparing to approve in the second reading the deal with the European Union, concluded in October by Prime Minister Boris Johnson. The document provides for an exit from the EU common space in the shortest possible time: from January 31, 2020. This will be followed by a transition period when the United Kingdom will be subject to some of the previous rules and restrictions. However, London also intends to keep it to a minimum: limit it to a 12-month period.
Negotiations between London and 27 European powers began shortly after the referendum on Brexit in June 2016 and lasted more than three years. In October 2018, British Prime Minister Teresa May agreed with the EU on the first version of the exit treaty. However, the UK Parliament refused to ratify the deal several times.
Having suffered a defeat, May resigned, her place since July was taken by Boris Johnson, a supporter of the rapid break with the European Union. In October 2019, he presented his version of the agreement and again did not agree with the deputies. They approved the deal in the first reading, but refused to support the short terms of exit from the EU, which the Prime Minister insisted on. Johnson secured the dissolution of Parliament. In the new elections, his supporters won a convincing victory: they won 365 seats out of 650. Now, with a strong majority, the Chief of Cabinet is preparing to implement his vision of EU-UK relations.
On what terms did Johnson and the EU agree?
After resolving most of the secondary issues, the disputes over Brexit mainly concerned the future of Northern Ireland. The parties agreed that no one was satisfied with the return of the land border between the region and the Republic of Ireland. But London also refused to remain in a common customs space with the EU: this would have made Brexit nonsense. Boris Johnson found a way out of this delicate situation. The deal he struck involved setting up customs control points not at the British border, but in the depths of the territory: at North Irish ports, where goods arrive from the centre of the country.
There, they are expected to be divided into two groups: those destined for deliveries to the neighbouring Republic of Ireland and those not. Since there is no guarantee that the goods will not cross the border, those with export potential will be labelled as “risky” and will have to pay customs duties to the European Union. If the “risky” goods never reach Ireland, the money will be returned to the entrepreneurs.
Not everyone is happy with Brexit by Johnson: there are voices that it brings division inside the United Kingdom. But other versions of the treaty, under which part of the European rules and restrictions would continue to apply even after a nominal withdrawal from the EU, were even less popular, as they negated the original idea of “secession” from the EU.
And yet, what was Brexit for?
In his speech before parliament on December 19, Boris Johnson announced the beginning of the golden age for Great Britain. The Prime Minister is confident that the country’s exit from the EU will allow it to build much more profitable trade relations with major players in the world market, starting with the United States. The President of this country Donald Trump is ardent supporter of Johnson. From 2017, the White House promises Great Britain a very profitable trade agreement. The only condition is to get out of the EU as soon as possible.
Another idea underlying Brexit is the desire to control mass migration. The founding principle of the EU is the free movement of capital and people. During their stay in the European Union, millions of Eastern Europeans have arrived and settled in the UK. A radical break with the European Union will allow London to put an uncontrollable migration flow in an acceptable direction.