The Brexit referendum has come and gone and out has won the day. The British have spoken and their wish should be respected. I was not surprised at all, as so many years of eurosceptic oratory cannot be turned around in one fell swoop.
Over the years, UK governments have tended to take the credit when things went right with the EU, but when things went wrong, it was the EU’s fault! The tabloids also had the same tone. This was childish and short-sighted! However, there will now be consequences for this decision and both Europe – and especially the UK – will have to live with these consequences.
The fundamental issue which carried the day for Brexit was immigration. There was also a penchant for the good old imperial times, but this was secondary. Most immigrants in the UK usually come from its commonwealth connections. I do not know why it bothered the British so much that, in line with the principle of free movement, people were exercising the right to travel to and work in Britain from the EU, just as the British themselves were exercising their own rights and doing the same thing by working in EU countries.
The UK will now need to sit down and work out the best relationship it can get from the EU. It should not, however, be a pick and choose approach, as rights and responsibilities go together. The EU’s principle of free movement of people, capital, goods and services should be maintained. That is the single market – take it or leave it. Britain cannot object to people travelling to Britain from the EU to find work and then object to the EU putting up barriers to Britons working in the EU!
The options are being part of the EEA (European Economic Area) as Norway is, which essentially buys into the single market, or an Association Agreement such as the one negotiated between Malta and the EU by the Borg Olivier government after we gained independence from the UK and which was subsequently extended by the Mintoff government.
The consequences of withdrawal such as reduced growth, social marginalisation, reduced world influence, immigration and also internal issues of stability and the aspirations of Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales to seek their own fulfilment for EU membership, within a restless union (the UK) have to be faced anew. Britain should now try to negotiate as good a deal with the EU as possible and then put that deal to the country.
People often do not understand the ramifications of what they do, especially when there are political, social, financial and commercial complexities involved. We had the same experiences in Malta in 1996 when the Maltese elected a Labour government into power with a eurosceptic agenda, only to change that very government when given a chance two years later in 1998, when the economic ramifications of staying out of the EU began to be properly understood and felt.
The scenario for the British to change their mind is still not extinguished, especially when Brexit policies start to be crystallised in pounds sterling and daily bread-and-butter issues. The fact that the majority of young people voted solidly in favour of ‘remain’ means that the situation can still change dramatically in a few years time! One can learn to read the signs of the times and there is a silver lining to the dark clouds overhead. The EU is a project of solidarity between peoples and states. The simple principle that it is better to do things together than alone, is one that everyone experiences in daily life and one which is also translated into political life.
(source: The Independent)
On Europe’s side, it is important to stop, have a moment of reflection and then move on. The issue of immigration is a thorny one that needs to be tackled more vigorously and effectively. The EU has no immigration policy as do the USA, Canada and Australia. We need to learn from them. This immigration policy needs to be put in place as quickly as possible for the good of all, especially for those states like Malta and Greece who have to bear the brunt of immigration alone, without xenophobic overtones of course.
Immigration is important for all countries especially those with a negative population growth curve which exists in most European states! However, the brunt of immigration should be borne by everyone and the sudden uncontrolled influx from outside the EU dealt with effectively within humanitarian parameters. This is not easy and it should be born in mind that it is a problem is not going away any time soon, in or out of the EU. The EU also now has three fundamental choices before it. Donald Tusk, the EU President, put it effectively when he said “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”. So, effectively, we have to make sure we hang on and change so that it doesn’t kill us, simply to be sure of becoming stronger.
The EU can go backwards to re-devolving responsibilities, which it had acquired as a whole over the decades, back to individual member states forming a very weak loose and ineffectual confederation. It can stay as it is, or it can move ahead. In my opinion, the first solution is moving backwards to worst times and losing everything that we have gained through togetherness. The second option means staying as we are, which is evidently not effective enough and will only see the EU dissolve in the same way that the UK has left. The third option is therefore the viable one. In any situation of multiple options, when other options – even those that sounded likely – have been excluded, what remains, even if sounding unlikely, is the one that must prevail! That is a fundamental principle of medical diagnosis and treatment.
The EU must now build stronger political institutions in which the whole is equal to the parts, where the democratic deficit is continued to be addressed, where it can take decisions that directly affect the daily bread-and-butter issues and the social lives of the different peoples and where there is the perception that this is so. I believe that the sentiments expressed by Cardinal Reinhard Marx, President of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conference of the European Community, COMECE, which will now sadly see the departure of the UK bishops who have contributed so positively to this body, say it all:
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“Last Thursday, the majority of British voters cast their vote in a referendum in favour of a withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union. This decision of the British voters should, of course, be respected, even if we, as COMECE, find it extremely regrettable. The European Union is a project of community and solidarity. A conscious withdrawal of a member is therefore painful and has consequences for all. The existing cultural and spiritual ties should be preserved, used and reinforced in the future. We know it: Europe goes beyond the European Union. The subsequent steps of the concrete negotiations on the withdrawal and its modalities require responsibility and the right sense of proportion from all parties concerned. The most helpless and the most easily vulnerable, in particular, may not be victims of this process, neither in the United Kingdom nor in the European Union.
“After this referendum, the time has come for Europe to look ahead. The decision of the British electorate confronts the European Union and its member states with questions about their goals and their tasks. The European Union needs a new departure. We need to “rethink” Europe in some way. The deliberations on the future development of the European Union must therefore take place on a broad social basis. Europe and the EU are a task for all, because we will only be able to build a good future if the nations of Europe are united. It also raises the question on the way to achieve the “true European humanism” to which Pope Francis encouraged the Europeans in his speech at the Charlemagne Prize Ceremony....
“At the same time, the European Union must not get stuck in self-reflection. Whether together or side-by-side, the European peoples and nations have a moral responsibility towards the world, the poorer countries, the integrity of creation and the reduction of climate change. The rule of law and the prospect of a life in peace and a high standard of living make Europe a pole of attraction for many people. The EU must also meet this global responsibility under the changed political conditions.
“The increasing nationalism in some countries must not become again the trigger of ideological delimitation, hostility and discord. As a Church, we will commit ourselves to this with full force.”
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Michael Asciak
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