1 May 2017

Brexit become a thorny theme on the pages of all newspapers. Numerous political parties within the European Union are dreaming of achieving the same result in their own nation. Are we sure that this is a good and reasonable choice? The main reasons to leave the European Union are based on isolationism and the mental idea of internal borders. Let’s try to figure out what will change on concrete bases.

As far as we can imagine, England will continue to face the same problems as before. European Union membership isn’t certainly the cause of the differences in terms or purchasing power and welfare between the industrialized areas of large cities and the poor rural areas that more have voted against Europe. This gap in England unfortunately depends on the local situation and government.

What will get worst? The list is long for businesses as well as for both European and English individuals. The aspects we consider are legal and concrete ones that enterprises and citizens have been, so far, able to claim before the courts. When the negotiations are over, it won’t be possible to enforce those positives rules.

Let’s have a look in detail to just a few of these disadvantages that the exit from the European Union involves:

  • British citizens will no longer enjoy the citizenship of the European Union and with it they lose the right to work and stay in the other 27 European member states becoming subject to more stringent immigration laws. They will be subject to migration flows facing also a pressing bureaucracy. Not considering that without work they will have no right to obtain a residence permit, unless they are wealthy and therefore still welcomed. The same goes for European citizens but, if the European citizens lose the right of access to a country, the British ones are going to lose the right to access to 27 countries.
  • In the field of scientific research, prestigious British universities will no longer be able to receive the huge European research funding, many foreign researchers who bring enormous added value to the country are planning their future somewhere else.
  • British and European businesses and individuals will no longer be able to count on all legal and judiciary facilities. This will increase the costs producing uncertainties in any international dispute. Criminals and dishonest will be the ones benefit from it.
  • British citizens lose the chance to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights, one chance lost to get justice.
  • British citizens lose the protective umbrella of the customer protection imposed by the European Union. Huge companies and lobbies will be grateful to Brexit voters as the strict European rules won’t apply anymore. Just as an example, English people lose the right to not have roaming charges when abroad and many protections to their purchases. Buying on line products will be far more risky. They won’t benefit the digital single market when finalized.
  • If the UK Government implements an ultra-easy fiscal policy to attract investment, England will be considered a tax haven and therefore consider into the black lists by all the other states. Operations to and from this country will be extremely difficult and subject to deep scrutiny.
  • England will come out of the Customs Union. Therefore, it will be subject to duties, foreign products for the British will cost more and British companies will have more difficulty exporting theirs.
  • England will lose a number of European societies and institutions that will bring all their inducements somewhere else. The result is a compression of the job offer.

Are we really sure that leaving the European Union is an advantage?

During the recent attack in France, a French citizen, multiple-judged and widely known to law enforcement, managed to commit an attack using weapons bought on the black market.

The response of the party claiming the exit from the European Union was the immediate proposal to abolish Schengen and to close the borders. Nice proposal but how could, this anti-European operation, prevent a French citizen from participating in an attack caused only by the inefficiency of the local justice system? The closure of Schengen would simply penalize all honest citizens who daily cross the border to work, for affection or tourism, leaving completely unaltered any other danger.

Getting out of Europe means losing a lot of benefits while retaining all the disadvantages that already exist. It would be better to convey energy to create a better sharing and to resolve existing problems that require global solutions instead of destroying what has already been solved.

Euroleges ®