Talking about the two most significant structural changes in Europe since World War II, the first time can be attributed to the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the second time is due to Brexit. As we all know, the general trend of Europe's internal evolution since World War II has been integration. As an established European power, the United Kingdom has spent all its efforts in promoting European integration.
In September 1946, facing the declining Europe after World War II, British Prime Minister Churchill once proposed the establishment of a "United States of Europe." Although this idea was proposed from the perspective of a bystander, it did herald the future of Europe. The trend of future integration. In the 1950s, European integration was gradually put on the agenda. From the establishment of the European Coal and Steel Association to the establishment of the European Economic Community, and then to the merger into the European Union in 1965, the integration trend within the European continent became increasingly obvious. . Seeing that the pace of European integration was accelerating, and at the same time forced by the severe situation brought about by the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom was gearing up to join the alliance. The United Kingdom first applied to join the European Union in 1961, but because Britain and France were in the Commonwealth There were serious differences on interest issues and British agricultural interests, and the talks continued until 1963 without achieving substantial progress. As the gap between the UK's economic growth and that of France in the European Union gradually widens, the UK's position is increasingly showing a trend of marginalization. The country's own interests and public voices require the UK to speed up its entry into the EU.
In the subsequent governments, British leaders compromised step by step and gave up many additional conditions. This coincided with the optimistic and open-minded Pompy succeeding as the French president. Finally, in 1973, Britain became the European leader as it wished. *A member state of the same body.
In the following decades, the increasingly integrated EU has shown great advantages in economic development and political discourse, and has also brought unprecedented opportunities to the UK's own development. It has reaped huge benefits in foreign trade, tariffs, agriculture, fishery and many other aspects. But beneath the surface of the EU's prosperity, the "crisis" of Brexit is gradually emerging.
Looking at the road to Brexit, it can be said that it has been full of ups and downs. The UK's first Brexit and referendum vote was proposed by former Prime Minister Cameron in 2013. This statement immediately triggered a lot of controversy at home and abroad.
In 2016, the UK held a referendum. Contrary to various predictions before the referendum, the Brexiteers succeeded with a 52% to 48% advantage. Maybe Cameron did not expect this. As a result, he announced his resignation after expressing his support for remaining in the European Union.
However, the Brexit process did not stop. Theresa May, who has always been low-key, was elected with this arduous task. After taking office, she faced double pressure from both inside and outside the party. Not only did the opposition parties continue to voice opposition, but there were also many differences within the radical party. The basic reason was that Brexit affected the interests of too many people.
In April 2019, with the failure of the fourth Brexit agreement talks in the British Parliament, Aunt May announced her resignation as prime minister.
In July 2019, Boris Johnson succeeded in the general election as a representative of the Brexiteers and was elected as the British Prime Minister. At the same time, he used the slogan of "making a new and better Brexit agreement" to The people made a commitment.
After three letters to the EU to delay the Brexit deadline, Johnson had to bet on the general election to end the unstable situation in the country as soon as possible. Fortunately, the Radical Party won the early election on December 12, and Brexit The European Agreement was finally passed in the House of Commons, and the Brexit process continued in a chaotic manner for more than a month.
On January 31, 2020, the European Union officially passed the Brexit decision, and the United Kingdom gained independence from the European Union. Then after a transition period of nearly 11 months, on the basis of the new UK-EU trade agreement, the UK The dust has finally settled. After three prime ministers, five years of talks, and a 2,000-page agreement, the road to Brexit has not been easy. What makes the UK, a country with a 47-year history of EU membership, parting ways with the EU?
The first is the ideological tradition of glory isolation. The unique astronomical location of the British island country gives it a very special relationship with the European continent.
Since the Renaissance, this trend of "heart-to-heart" has become more and more obvious. The tradition of freedom since the Middle Ages has given Britain a strong national spirit. The melee conquests on the European continent have further strengthened this feeling. Independent and arrogant thoughts.
Since its implementation in the late 19th century, the "glorious isolation" policy has not only existed as a foreign policy, but has gradually deepened into the hearts of the British people. Therefore, when Churchill put forward the slogan of "European unity", the United Kingdom was still implementing a "three-ring diplomacy" centered on Britain and the United States. As he himself said: "We are with Europe, but we are not part of it; we Be interested in it and keep in touch with it, but you cannot be incorporated or alienated."
At the same time, joining the European Union means surrendering sovereignty, which is intolerable to the British. Among current Brexit supporters, fighting for sovereignty and independence is one of their slogans.
Secondly, the contradiction between the economic and social development status of the EU and the UK has intensified. On the one hand, the downward pressure on the UK economy has gradually increased since the financial crisis, and it is facing unprecedented challenges in the new century in terms of fiscal deficit, labor employment, currency issuance, etc. However, this phenomenon has not been improved by the EU, and even the European debt Under the influence of the crisis, the British government had to allocate a large amount of funds to assist debtor countries such as Greece, which greatly worried the British people whose economic development was already facing a crisis.
On the other hand, social inequality in the UK has further increased since joining the EU. Statistics show that by 2015, the income of the poorest class in the UK had even dropped by 12%. The idea that only those at the top benefit from the EU has gained traction in recent years, leading some scholars to attribute the success of the Brexiteers in the referendum directly to the result of populism.
In addition to the above historical reasons, although the partisan struggles of politicians such as Cameron are somewhat dramatic, it cannot be admitted that they do reflect the true thoughts of the British people.
In 2013, the leader of the Radical Party, Cameron, made a bold promise of a referendum in order to win re-election in the general election. From the outside world, the referendum may simply be a political weight for him, but in fact this The resolution coincides with the will of the people.
Brexit has caused great shock. To this day, what exactly has Brexit brought to the UK?
On January 31, 2020, when the European Parliament passed the Brexit agreement, No. 10 Downing Street immediately put on a light show. People gathered in Parliament Square in London were overjoyed after hearing the news. , waving the national flag to celebrate this historic achievement.
After the withdrawal agreement was reached, British Prime Minister Johnson said happily: "The United Kingdom will become a new, truly independent country." The two former prime ministers also sent congratulations, saying that the withdrawal agreement is a A grand victory.
Of course, it has been seven years since the Brexit issue was raised. These seven years have been a difficult period for both the British government and the general public. Being able to deal with this issue will undoubtedly become a political achievement that Johnson and other politicians can put on the table.
The UK has long wanted to leave the EU, and the relationship between the UK and the EU has actually been put on the agenda. According to the current situation, Brexit has many benefits. In terms of methods, the UK has since regained control of its own currency, borders, laws, trade, etc., and is no longer dependent on the EU.
It can be said that the Withdrawal Agreement is a historic agreement. It maintains the integrity and independence of the British market and also mitigates, to a certain extent, the negative effects that the EU has brought to the British economy in recent years. , Britain takes control of its destiny in its own hands.
However, as a major change in the European economic and social structure, Brexit will inevitably lead to short-term fluctuations. Many people comment on this that "Brexit is easy in form, but difficult in essence." While regaining development autonomy, the relationship between the two major sectors of the UK and the EU has to be re-examined.
The UK and the EU are each other's important economic and trade partners. The two sides maintain a high degree of consistency in economic and political aspects. The most direct impact of this Brexit is to increase the trade costs of both parties, limiting the Free movement of goods, services, resources, and personnel from both parties. Since the Brexit referendum, as the instability of Brexit continues to ferment, UK domestic demand, foreign trade, foreign direct investment inflows, net migration, etc. have all shown declines at varying levels.
The challenges currently faced by the UK in terms of employment stability and trade growth, coupled with factors such as the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic, have intensified the risk of UK economic recession. Judging from the economic situation after the outbreak of the epidemic in 2020, by May, the double blow of Brexit and the epidemic had caused the British GDP to shrink by nearly one-fifth.
Under the severe economic situation, the burden on people's lives has increased, and the shrinking labor market has directly caused nearly 650,000 people to lose their jobs from March to June.
The British government is naturally the first to be responsible for this phenomenon. However, Brexit has led to a reduction in government fiscal revenue, and huge subsidies have increased the expenditure burden. It can be said that it cannot make ends meet. The current proportion of British government debt to GDP It once exceeded 100% and far exceeded the EU warning line.
As far as the impact on the British economy is concerned, in the short term, due to the structural changes brought about by Brexit and the large amount of adjustment costs required, the UK's trade, finance and other aspects have indeed been negatively affected. In other words, the uncertainty brought about by Brexit has increased the downward pressure on the British economy. Although there has been abnormal growth in the short term, overall, at least so far, the impact of Brexit on the British economy has been negative. of.
Not only is the overall economic situation in the country poor, but people's lives have also been greatly affected. This impact is first reflected in the most basic population activities. After Brexit, the UK separated from the EU countries, and the British on the territory of the latter became "outsiders". According to regulations, foreign tourists cannot bring meat and dairy products into the EU. Therefore, it is common to see British people sighing when their own food is confiscated in EU waters.
When British artists go to EU countries to perform, they also need to go through various procedures such as work visas and performance permits. You know, this did not exist before. The cumbersome procedures made celebrities collectively complain.
In addition to the British, even their language, English, has also become the target of complaints from the EU. Before the UK joined the European Community, France and Germany had always been the big brothers in the European community. French occupied an important position in the European Community in terms of the number of language speakers and the status of French-speaking countries. However, the participation of the United Kingdom changed this situation, causing the proportion of the population that uses English to increase to 50%, making it the most popular language.
So after the UK left the EU, French Minister of European Affairs Boehner made a request to the EU to lower the status of English, calling it "bad language", which shows that the UK's status has declined and even its language has suffered. against.
Another point that must be mentioned is that Brexit may exacerbate existing domestic territorial and sovereignty issues. As we all know, Northern Ireland in the present-day United Kingdom originally belonged to the Kingdom of Ireland. The inclusion of this area in the United Kingdom is not unrelated to the surrender by force.
Brexit has become a fact, and border issues have been put on the agenda again. Coupled with the impact of the epidemic on Northern Ireland, the quality of life of the local people has plummeted, and internal struggles have intensified, so the situation has emerged. In April this year, the fierce confrontation between the Communist Party and the Union Party even triggered violent conflicts on the streets.
The problem does not stop there. Scotland is not peaceful either. Its main industry is fishery. Brexit has re-limited Scotland’s fishing scope and fishery import and export volume, directly causing damage to the interests of fishermen. In addition, Due to complex old grievances such as history, ethnicity, and religion, Scotland's awareness of independence has once again risen. The confusion between history and ideals has caused a huge headache for the British government.
At the press conference on December 24, 2020, European Commission President von der Leyen said: "It is time to turn the page and look to the future. The end is also another beginning."
Indeed, Brexit is just an episode in the ever-changing international political landscape. Before Brexit, some people supported and others opposed it. After Brexit, some people are happy and some are sad. Now that the step of leaving the EU has been taken, the British government and people have to consider how to continue on this path. After all, there is no regret medicine in the world, and solving the problem is the only way out.