Brexit - reasons of Britain’s exit from the European Union and analyze the socio-political PDF

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reasons of Britain’s exit from the European Union and analyze the socio-political and economic consequences for European Union...

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Write in detail the reasons of Britain’s exit from the European Union and analyze the socio-political and economic consequences for European Union. The vote by the British people to leave the European Union sent shockwaves across the continent of Europe and beyond. It is the most significant event in Europe since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and may well mark the beginning of the end of the European Union as we have known it. The EU of 2016 by contrast has been hit by a series of extremely damaging blows: 

The economic crisis of 2008

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Damage from failure to deal with the flaws of the euro following the crisis

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Russian success in upsetting the post-cold war balance of power in Europe

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Terrorist attacks from ISIS

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Immense migration flows into the Union.

All of these blows have created powerful anti-establishment constituencies across the continent, not just in the UK. The Brexit is likely to empower these constituencies further undermining support for the EU. In addition, the process of British exit from the Union is likely to effect Union solidarity, opening up fissures that will be difficult to close.

Reasons behind Brexit There are a lot of societal and economic reasons behind the British choice of leaving the European Union. There has been a long-standing skeptical British attitude towards European integration ever since it became part of the Union. It is argued that the rise in the immigrant ratio had a significant impact on employee’s pay level in certain areas; therefore pro-Brexit campaigners highlighted migration as one of the major problems arising from EU membership. Increasing income and wealth inequalities and a growing anti-elite sentiment in British society, coupled with the negative image of Brussels bureaucrats and a British approach to the rule of law that is fundamentally different from the continental one, also contributed to the final result of the referendum.

Immigrant Problem One of the key factors of Brexit is considered to be the immigrant problem; the influx was reinforced by the economic crisis. As the Eurozone failed to deliver growth across its 19 members, and the economy of debtor nations declined sharply, more people arrived from southern Europe and Ireland into the UK. The British economy rapidly righted itself after the crisis, as the UK was in control of its own currency. However, because of the Eurozone’s rigid economic policies, the UK was also acting as the employment shock absorber for the European Union as more and more people started coming to UK for jobs and employments. The sheer volume of people moving to the UK from the Central and Eastern European states, and from southern Europe appears to have been a major factor in driving the Leave vote in Brexit. In parts of the country which had recently seen a surge of new foreign workers, they voted heavily to leave. The Leave vote also surged in parts of the country where there was very little new or historical immigration, but where voters feared that immigrants might also soon arrive in their neighborhoods. Mass migration from new member states like Malta and Cyprus not only had a small negative impact on average wages, but has also certainly (regionally and depending on occupational groups) displaced local nationals from their jobs. They were replaced by Eastern European migrants willing to work either for lower pay or under inferior conditions than British natives. The owners also preferred cheap labor coming from areas like Hungary, Poland and Cyprus. Net Budget Contribution of UK Another key issue was the net budget contribution of UK in the EU budget. The UK pays more into the EU budget than it gets back. In 2016 the UK government paid £13.1 billion to the EU budget, and EU spending on the UK was forecast to be £4.5 billion. So the UK’s ‘net contribution’ was estimated at about £8.6 billion. Each year the UK gets a discount on its contributions to the EU “the rebate” which was worth almost £4 billion last year. Without it the UK would have been liable for £17 billion in contributions. The UK’s contributions to the budget vary from year to year. They’ve been larger recently than in previous decades. Without rebate, the UK’s net contribution as a percentage of gross national income would be twice of France’s (i.e. a comparably wealthy country) and 1.5

times higher than Germany’s, hence Britain would be by far the biggest net payer to the EU budget. Trade agreement restrictions The UK has (because the EU has) no trade agreements with China, India or most other Commonwealth countries. Even the EU-Canada deal, was agreed, now risks being vetoed by Romania because of an unrelated row about visas for Romanians wishing to enter Canada. It’s a costly failure. In 2006, the EU was taking 55 per cent of UK’s exports; last year, it was down to 45 per cent. When Britain EU joined in 1973, the states that now make up the EU accounted for 36 per cent of the world economy. Last year, it was 17 per cent. The EU has also been comprehensively outperformed by the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. This is because the EU is more concerned with keeping the euro together as a means to political integration than in the welfare those who have to use it. Rise of Other Organizations Among the other reasons for Brexit is the rise of nationalism across the world. There’s a growing distrust of multinational financial, trade, and defense organizations created after World War II. The EU, the IMF , and NATO are good examples of this. Many who oppose the EU believe these institutions no longer serve a purpose. Not only that, but these organizations take control away from individual nations. Mistrust and fear of losing control made Brexit a reasonable solution to them. But for the supporters of the EU, such organizations are self-evidently valuable. They may need to be tweaked but not abandoned. The immigration crisis in Europe was a trigger. Some EU leaders argued that aiding the refugees was a moral obligation. But EU opponents saw immigration as a national issue, as it affected the internal life of the country. Steering clear of this issue was an important driver for the “leave” vote. The EU doesn’t understand the power of nationalism. It attempts to retain nationality as a cultural right. On the other hand, it deprives individual nations of the power to make many decisions. This may have worked before 2008, but it has become increasingly difficult to accept.

Terrorism Moreover, rising terrorism in EU and rise of Syrian refugee migrants in the EU have also contributed in the Brexit. Migrants from outside Europe include asylum seekers and economic migrants. In some cases, immigration has been a cover for hostile agents, including Islamic State militants disguised as refugees or migrants. UK is not ready to face such kind of a refugee problem as it also fears rising terrorism and identity crisis in the future. Impact of Brexit on the European Union The broader scale and shape of the impact of the Brexit vote will not be clear for some time. First, a vote by a Member State to leave is an immense shock to the Union’s self-image, global standing and sense of durability of the European project. If one Member State can vote to leave, so potentially can others: there is nothing inevitable about an ever-expanding and developing European Union. It can be rolled back. Because, particularly of the euro crisis, that sense of EU fragility already existed, the Brexit vote will now further weaken the Union’s credibility, legitimacy and political capacity to act. It also places a further burden on the EU institutions and the Member States, struggling with the Euro crisis, migration flows, ISIS and Russian aggression. Dealing with complex Brexit negotiations reduces the resources available to deal with this crisis and increases the complexity of managing these crises. It galvanizes anti-EU forces across the continent, with the prospect that the EU is indeed toppling and it will only need a few more events like the Brexit vote to end the Union completely. Effect on the Single Market The EU has potentially lost its most economically liberal member. The effect of Brexit here is likely to result in slower development of the single market. Projects like the Energy Union will also lose a major contributor. There is also a further interaction with rising nationalism in Europe, in that with the loss of the UK some of the single markets gains may well vanish..

Lack of Employment opportunities A further threat to the European market will come from British withdrawal. The UK acted as an employment shock absorber for the Eurozone and has taken up workers from Central and Eastern European states. If the UK no longer provides a broad right to work on its territory for EU nationals, those workers will be looking across the rest of the Union instead. A further danger therefore arises that for rising nationalist parties, increased flows of EU nationals into their labor markets becomes a major political issue. Nationalist parties of the UK seek to not just attack the EU for its failures in dealing with migration flows, but also for the increased flows of EU workers into the UK. Loss of a Major Military Power The UK has been a key asset for the EU in the fields of foreign affairs and defence given that the UK is (with France) one of the EU's two major military powers, has significant intelligence capabilities, soft power and a far reaching diplomatic network. Without the UK, EU foreign policy could be less influential. The US saw the UK as a bridge between the US and Europe, and the UK helped align the EU positions to the US and provide tougher responses to Russia. Loss of Free Movement in the UK The UK's aim is to have as much access to the EU market without accepting free movement. The impact of this would be felt most on eastern European member states who have approximately 1.2 million workers in the UK by the end of 2015; the largest groups from Poland (853,000), Romania (175,000) and Lithuania (155,000). A year after the Brexit vote, net annual immigration to the UK fell by 106,000 with most attributed to EU citizens leaving for other states, with the biggest drop among those from the western European states. Return of Emigrants The Polish government is encouraging its young emigrant workforce to return to Poland, but due to regulatory or political reasons many would either stay in the UK or move to other western cities such as Amsterdam or Berlin. Other western European member states may see much of the flow coming from eastern states in future. The influx of workers from the east would be economically beneficial to countries such as Germany, but may be politically problematic.

No one can foresee the future accurately but once the dust has settled it will be in Europe’s interest as well as the UK’s to work out an acceptable deal to all that brings back stability and growth to the global market.

References 1. Arnorsson, A., & Zoega, G. (2018). On the causes of Brexit. European Journal of Political Economy. 2. Somai, M., & Biedermann, Z. (2016). Brexit: Reasons and challenges. Acta Oeconomica, 66(s1), 137–156. doi:10.1556/032.2016.66.s1.8 3. Heisbourg, F. (2016). Brexit and European Security. Survival, 58(3), 13–22. 4. Wincott, D., Peterson, J., & Convery, A. (2017). Introduction: Studying Brexit’s causes and consequences. The British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 19(3), 429–433.

5. The UK’s EU membership fee [Internet]. Full Fact. [cited 2018 Sep 15]. Available from:

https://fullfact.org/europe/our-eu-membership-fee-55-million/ 6. The six best reasons for Brexit [Internet]. Coffee House. 2016 [cited 2018 Sep 15]. Available from: https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2016/12/six-best-reasons-brexit-best/ 7. Reasons Brits Voted For Brexit [Internet]. [cited 2018 Sep 15]. Available from: https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnmauldin/2016/07/05/3-reasons-brits-voted-forbrexit/#181cf6971f9d...