It was an eternal divorce process. After a tight majority of the British (almost 52 percent) voted in a referendum in June 2016 in favor of the United Kingdom leaving the European Union, the negotiating parties took almost five years to reach a Withdrawal Agreement that minimally satisfied both parties. Negotiations were arduous, the deadlines initially set for them to come to fruition had to be extended up to three times, abrupt changes occurred in the Downing Street Government to try to close a consensual pact and, finally, on January 31, 2020 London and Brussels officially separated. But not definitive. The transition period lasted another 11 months and the process culminated on the last day of that year, with the promise of a more prosperous future for the British nation, now freed from the control of the community bloc.
Three years later, the Brexit balance sheet is still plagued with shadows. The country is in political chaos and the economy is not bouncing back, largely due to the privileges lost after the separation. A separation whose terms, moreover, one of the parties intends to break: the United Kingdom wants to modify the Protocol for Northern Ireland, one of the most thorny points and guilty, precisely, of the fact that the talks lasted so long. Its application guarantees the absence of a physical border on the island of Ireland, not only to maintain trade relations, but also to avoid new conflicts such as those experienced at the end of the last century and guarantee the Good Friday Agreement.
London ensures that this pact causes social and political problems in the region. In fact, it does not comply and threatens to unilaterally eliminate its most controversial provisions if Brussels does not agree to negotiate changes. The EU is willing to resume dialogue, but, of course, not to succumb to “blackmail”, although it is confident that an understanding can finally be reached with the new British authorities. And it is that the departure of Boris Johnson from the British Government could open the door to an improvement in relations between the parties.
Broken promises
Three years after the definitive exit from the EU, the United Kingdom -which this year would have celebrated half a century as a community partner, since it joined the group in January 1973-, the promises of those who promoted Brexit, mainly economic ones, have not been have materialized. Moreover, the consequences of those who urged to bet on permanence are beginning to be experienced.
In the financial field, inflation has been unleashed, trade relations have deflated -exports have fallen more than 30% since 2020- and, according to experts, the British economy has grown 5% less in recent years. than if the country had continued in the bloc. In addition, in the labor aspect, Brexit has left a deficit of 330,000 workers, the equivalent of 1 percent of the labor force, after the end of the free movement of people. Something that has also caused 2,500 Britons to have been expelled from different EU countries for not complying with residence permits.
As regards immigration, far from appeasing the arrivals of foreigners, the landings of undocumented to the coasts are unleashed and only last year the record number of 45,700 irregulars who illegally crossed the English Channel was reached.
Citizens also consider that their country has lost its strategic position in the international arena and, therefore, its influence on the decisions of the West has fallen, as has happened in the war in Ukraine. For this reason, more and more British people consider that Brexit was a mistake because it has generated more problems than benefits. A recent survey indicates that 57 percent of the population believes that the divorce was a “mistake” and almost two thirds of the inhabitants of the United Kingdom advocate a new referendum that, if held this year, would register 68 percent. percent of votes that would support a return to the EU. But first the political class and the community authorities would have to bet on it. And that does seem difficult.
