Brexit: Britain and the European Union’s tedious breakup
Kaitlyn Lundy, News Editor
Photo courtesy of Unsplash.com.
The process of the United Kingdom removing itself from the European Union, formally known as Brexit, began on June 2016 with a referendum, or general vote made by the British electorate. The vote was extremely close with 52 percent supportive of leaving and 48 percent opposing. Brexit was expected to be put into effect in March of this year, however, the process has been delayed multiple times.
Former Prime Minister, Theresa May, was in office when negotiations of Brexit began. She put in her resignation out of frustration when her Brexit proposals were declined on three separate occasions. Boris Johnson took her place and has experienced similar challenges.
The process of Brexit has taken a copious amount of time because it will alter the relationship between Britain and the EU specifically regarding trade, security and migration.
Currently, the deadline has been extended until October 31, and it’s very possible that it will be extended again. On October 17, Johnson and EU representatives crafted a draft deal which still has to work its way through the Parliaments of Britain and the EU.
According to the New York Times, “Under the terms of the agreement, Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom, would remain legally part of its customs territory. But it would stay closely aligned with a maze of European rules and regulations, and there would be customs checks between Britain and Northern Ireland. This would allow seamless trading to continue with Ireland, a member of the European Union.”
The concern regarding Brexit involves discussion of border lines, specifically with Ireland, and economic dissatisfaction which involves the southern European countries.
Ben Coates, associate professor of Spanish and Spanish education coordinator at NGU, has spent a significant amount of time overseas in Spain and is leading a mission trip there in the summer. Spain belongs to the European Union and has been closely involved in the Brexit discussion.
“From having been in Europe, there are certain dynamics that I’ve noticed. So, Brexit happened basically because the UK was tired of pulling Europe along, tired of pulling Spain, Italy, Greece, some of those southern countries along.”
Economically speaking Spain, along with other southern European countries including Greece and Italy, need the UK within the EU for stability. Therefore, if or when Brexit clears, the slack will need to be picked up somewhere. Coates noted, “Spain is leading the charge to not let them out because Spain knows that they need the English economy to make this whole EU thing work.”
These countries are voicing push-back because they realize the implications of losing an economically sound country that has essentially been the foundation of the EU leading up to this point.
“Because we’re taking students to Spain this summer, I’ve been keeping up with Brexit. I honestly don’t think this will affect students going abroad at least for right now. I don’t know at this point how much students will notice a difference in the streets of both England and countries belonging to the EU. Long term, I think we’ll have to wait and see what effect Brexit will have on the European Union,” said Coates.
