Tribune. The information disseminated by the European media when drawing up a first medium-term review of Brexit since the referendum of 23 June 2016 legitimately welcomed the way in which the Brexit negotiations were conducted by the task force of the European Commission and its head, Michel Barnier.
The unity and legal rigor of the Union have decided against the lightness of the British negotiators. The Good Friday agreement relating to peace in Northern Ireland was preserved by a protocol signed between the two parties which avoids the reestablishment of a hard border between the north and the south of the island – although the uncertainty heightened tensions in Northern Ireland at the start of the year.
We must also insist on the strict positioning of the European Union (EU) with regard to the City, which now sees its financial leadership in Europe challenged by the places of Frankfurt and Amsterdam. In general, the EU has shown inventiveness in order to preserve the common market by preserving the conditions for fair competition between the two parties.
Lack of political upturn in the EU after the referendum
These positive points cannot hide the other side of the coin: the call for a political leap by the European Union after the results of the referendum has not been heard. If, on the British side, the strategy of ” Global Britain ” or the mantra of ” Take back control “ are, for the time being, pretenses, Brexit appears for the EU as a missed opportunity to bring about a structural reform allowing it to meet contemporary challenges, foremost among which are the preservation of the environment and the reduction of inequality.
Added to this general criticism are three more narrowly focused on the way the EU has handled and continues to understand its relationship with the UK. First of all, the fact that the quality of the negotiations conducted by Michel Barnier finally took precedence over what the Brexit crisis means for the EU is a revealing of the failings of the latter: since the technocratic functioning of the community governance leads to results, the weakness of the European political project itself is eclipsed.
Then, the orderly outcome of Brexit must be a cause for caution. The two texts which frame it (the agreement which governed the withdrawal of the United Kingdom, then the trade and cooperation treaty which determines the nature of the economic and diplomatic relations between the two parties) are already reaching their limits. The trade and cooperation treaty is only an incomplete legal basis, the primary purpose of which was to reassure economic circles, which is not negligible.
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