Großbritannien: Der Brexit beginnt zu wirken | Mit offenen Karten | ARTE

Welcome to a new series of open letters that we are starting in London. Since the summer, strikes and demonstrations in Britain, where social unrest rarely occurs, have been a wake-up call to the rest of Europe because the country has the highest inflation rate of the G7 countries, the biggest price increase in 40 years and an imminent recession, the country has already been in crisis mode for several years: Corona, the war in Ukraine, Boris Johnson's successor and, of course, Brexit, which gives us the opportunity to examine how the UK manages its destiny. Now outside the EU, the recently resigned Boris Johnson wanted to free his country from the constraints of Brussels and align it with the United States and the countries of the former empire. "Since Brexit there is no longer free movement of people or goods and that is why in the United Kingdom controls are now applied to entry and exit from the country.

Despite the very conflictive Brexit negotiations, the two parties The parties finally They p

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d ways on good terms. Part of the new partnership is an agreement on trade and cooperation signed in December 2020, which meant they wanted as much as possible. Trade worth €700 billion annually will continue between the EU and the United Kingdom. There will be no import duties or quantitative restrictions, but there will be control procedures and administrative formalities, first of all in exports, where there has been little change so far. The EU remains by far the largest market For The British economy sees things differently when Regarding imports, the United Kingdom has diversified its sources of supply and established new partnerships outside the EU, so the proportion of imports from the EU of 53% before Brexit to 45% in 2021, the US and China have now overtaken Germany and are now the largest supplying countries for British companies, but the impact on the labor market is likely to be particularly noticeable: the UK has a shortage of workers due to the corona pandemic. 1.3 million foreigners are expected to come to the country.

Since the end of 2019, the country has been gone and Brexit has made the situation even worse because now EU citizens from Poland or Romania, for example, need a work permit, so there is a lack of applicants in key sectors such as hotels in British companies. - but above all, there is a shortage of about 100,000 truck drivers, which is why in the summer of 2021 there were bottlenecks in deliveries at gas stations and supermarkets. Six months later, after the outbreak of war in Ukraine, the inflation rate began to rise. The consequences of Brexit for the financial sector, as it plays a key role for London, have not led to the massive decline that some had predicted for the financial center, the largest in Europe.

It was even able to maintain this place in 2021, although 440 financial companies and 7,500 bankers, including some of the richest merchants, moved to Paris, Amsterdam and Frankfurt, for example, but that is little with a total of 450,000 employees. In 2021, British banks created 30,000 jobs, more than ever. The financial center remains attractive, especially for foreign publishers. The feared wave of production relocations did not occur in the industry, so Nissan, for example, was able to maintain its portfolio. factory in Sunderland and even announce the construction of an electric vehicle battery factory not far away. With 7.5% growth in 2021, the British economy was initially able to withstand the consequences of Brexit, but in the fall of 2022 it demonstrates that in connection with the war in Ukraine, Ukraine's weaknesses and the threat of recession have now become on a particularly sensitive issue in relations between London and Brussels: under the trade agreement, EU fishermen should continue to be able to cast their nets in Britain's exclusive economic zone, one of Europe's richest fisheries: fishermen The French obtain a qu

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r of their total catch there, worth 171 million euros a year, fishing in coastal areas requires only a license, which can only be obtained if it can be demonstrated that fishing was already taking place there before the Brexit.

After months of back and forth, the required 1,100 licenses were finally granted with record inflation. Falling trade with the EU should cause problems. The British economy is starting to feel the effects of Brexit, but what about Boris Johnson's global Britain in the near future? His ambitious project should allow the United Kingdom to shine in the world without the EU thanks to the former colonies and the Commonwealth, conquering new markets, especially in Asia, but it is not that easy. As compensation for Brexit, Boris Johnson initially focused on the economic aspect. potential of the 56 strong laws of the Commonwealth, a loose connection of most of the former British colonies on all five continents.

Queen Elizabeth had the symbolic presidency now it passes to King Charles. Meanwhile, free trade agreements have been signed with Canada, Australia and New Zealand. and there are hopes of a partnership with India, but negotiations are proving tougher than planned and the new leadership is not producing the expected results between 2015. There have been no significant changes to trade with the Commonwealth in 2021. An important aspect The post-Brexit strategy also focuses on Asia: a bilateral trade agreement was concluded with Japan, but Boris Johnson mainly relied on joining the Trans-Pacific Trade Partnership Agreement (CPT) to become the leader of global free trade. lift 95% of barriers between member states Japan Vietnam Singapore Australia New Zealand Brunei and Malaysia, as well as Canada Mexico Peru and Chile If the request is successful, Britain would have access to a market with 500 million consumers of 13 percent of the European Union.

What complicates global trade are negotiations on a free trade agreement with the United States, its closest ally, which have been stalled since Joe Biden took office because he does not want to favor Britain over the EU, despite the traditionally close relations between London and Washington: The United Kingdom is not only looking for new trading partners, but would also like to continue playing an important role internationally even without the EU and there is something to be said for it: it is one of the five members permanent. of the World Security Council and has a network of overseas territories and military bases that protect regions that are important in terms of strategic presence and would like to use its naval power, in addition to its own, to expand the deterrence capacity of the current 225 to 260 nuclear weapons.

However, these ambitions do not correspond to geopolitical realities because, although Boris Johnson was the first to deliver anti-tank missiles to Ukraine in January 2022, the United Kingdom is relatively absent from the list. The Ukraine question Given the current threats in Europe, Brexit could prove to be a disadvantage or a historically wrong decision because the EU is reflecting on its raison d'être: an alliance for peace and democracy that some countries would be happy to join. . Another problem is that, even though Britain's dreams of world power are being shattered at home due to Brexit, the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland is once again a problem because it still belongs to the EU, according to to the Northern Ireland Protocol signed in December 2020, the free movement of goods and membership in the customs union of Northern Ireland so that there are no border controls on the internal Irish border because that would jeopardize the Good Friday Agreement, which was concluded On April 10, 1998, after decades of violence between Protestant unionists and Catholics advocating the reunification of Ireland, the Brexit agreement essentially created a border in the United Kingdom across the Irish Sea between Northern Ireland and Great Britain as a result of which unionists see their British identity and their belonging to the kingdom threatened.

Northern Ireland plunged into political crisis and the Irish republican Schindfain rose to become the strongest party in Northern Ireland in 2022, leading to a referendum on the reunification of the Islands. are getting closer and Brexit caused renewed independence movements in Scotland: in England, 53.4% ​​voted in favor of leaving the EU, 62% voted in favor of remaining in the EU, which is why the National Party Scottish, SNP, as the strongest party in the EU The Scottish Parliament is in favor of holding a second referendum on the United Kingdom, has returned to its insular existence, is taking its first steps out of the EU and returning to its former empire in the Indo-Pacific and the US, but remains dependent.

It remains to be seen whether the majority of the British population will continue to be satisfied with life on the islands or long to be anchored on the mainland. For today's topic we recommend England. Brexit and goodbye to the world, a book by Volker Berghahn published by van den Hug and Ruprecht and in French the Atlas giopolitik the royumini by Mark Balloni and Delfin Papa published by Otramond that closes today's issue, see you next week in the same place and same time until then you will find us and our geopolitical aspects on arte.tv see you soon