The shipping connection between Dover in southern England and Calais in France is one of the most important transport routes in Europe. The 50 km long Euro Tunnel runs under the sea. Again and again device the route into the focus of migration debates, because many refugees try to get to Great Britain via Calais. Since Brexit, many consequences of the British exit from the EU have also become visible here. Backed up off Dover last year miles away the “Lorries”, as trucks are called in Great Britain. A frequently cited reason for the traffic chaos: a website that was supposed to issue documents that had become necessary after Brexit was temporarily unavailable. This year there was another mega traffic jam before Easter. The British are still arguing about the extent to which Brexit was responsible for the chaos.
On the French side of the Channel, too, Brexit repeatedly causes trouble and a lack of understanding. Last Thursday, for example, with a German noise rock band called “Trigger Cut”. The three men from Stuttgart wanted to play seven concerts in Great Britain. In Calais, however, they were prevented from continuing their journey by British border officials. The reason: They would have needed a special visa, which the band and the concert organizers had never heard of before. “We thought we had planned all the details of our tour extremely well,” the musicians wrote on their Facebook page. “In the end, the procedure at the British border was degrading and sad,” they said, disappointed. The band had to cancel their tour, which was planned for seven days, and apologized to their fans on the island.
Malta’s beaches instead of royals and rock’n’roll
A language trip to England – for a long time this was the dream of many French, German and Austrian young people. The charming accent of the English is tempting, sounds like the elite universities of Oxford and Cambridge. When you think of Great Britain, you think of idyllic landscapes à la “Rosemunde Pilcher”, “Harry Potter” or the wild youth culture of London. However, Brexit has made language trips to the country more difficult and young people are increasingly talking about Malta or Ireland instead of England or Scotland. Traveling to the UK has now become complicated and very expensive. In addition, all language students suddenly need a passport, before Brexit an identity card was sufficient. In addition, there is a visa requirement for students from third countries. If a school child has a Turkish passport, for example, a visa must be applied for for this one child or it must stay at home.
“We’ve only been flying to Malta since Brexit because Great Britain is too expensive and is no longer subsidized by the EU,” says Christine Schneeflock from the Weiz Business Academy. “Our students used to fly to the UK quite often, but now it’s just too expensive,” she says. This is bad for British language schools because the number of school classes coming to Great Britain has fallen sharply. The corona pandemic put an additional damper on them. Compared to 2019, the organization “Tourism Alliance” recorded a decline of 83 percent in language students in 2022. That means eight out of ten language travel groups that would have previously traveled to the UK are now going somewhere else.
However, if you still want to travel to Great Britain, according to Antonia Praun from Ministry of Foreign Affairs make sure “whether a visa is required for the purpose of the trip”. You should also think about the costs that are now incurred for roaming: “When traveling to the United Kingdom, you should find out beforehand whether your own mobile provider still offers roaming free of charge,” advises Praun. In Austria, on the other hand, when ordering online from British shops, you should make sure that the retailer has a branch in the EU, otherwise high customs fees can be incurred.
Missing teachers, chrysanthemums and canaries
It’s not just us mainland Europeans who are struggling with Brexit, but also the British themselves. Since Brexit, we’ve been seeing new bottlenecks from the British Isles: there aren’t enough truck drivers and harvest workers, gas stations aren’t supplied with fuel and even vegetables are becoming scarce. Even if the causes cannot usually be blamed on Brexit alone, some developments on the island give cause for concern. A lack of cut flowers is causing problems for the florist – chrysanthemums are now twice as expensive, and the prices for the gentian have also risen sharply. In early April, the case of a Scottish canary collector made headlines. His hobby isn’t the same anymore because of Brexit. Because of Brexit rules, he is now required to have the dainty and colorful birds tested for five different diseases if he buys them in the EU. Because the majority of European canary breeders live in the Netherlands and Belgium, this is a big problem. “To test the birds for these diseases, you have to swab the snout and throat. If you wipe a canary’s throat, you kill it. So the vet might come back and say there’s no disease – but your bird will be dead by then,” bird breeder Donald Skinner-Reid told the Guardian.
Curious invitations to foreign workers also make the rounds again and again. A good two years ago, the British government sent out personal letters: The British Department for Transport asked employees who were completely unrelated to the industry, such as wealthy investment bankers or people without a driver’s license, whether they would like to take advantage of a “great job opportunity” as a truck driver. This year the British are looking abroad for teachers for their schools. Advertisements from the UK Department of Health are circulating on social media inviting teachers to come to the UK: “If you move to England to teach languages or physics you will receive £10.00 as an international relocation payment and we will reimburse you for your visa and travel expenses.” , promises the government. Even English teachers seem to be in short supply in the UK.
Was Brexit a mistake?
While fewer and fewer tourists from Europe want to travel to Great Britain, enthusiasm for Brexit is also falling noticeably among Britons: According to a YouGov survey from March 2023, more than half of Britons now see Brexit as the wrong decision. Another study showed that two-thirds of Britons would now support a referendum on EU re-entry. At least from an Austrian point of view, it was much easier with the British when they were not yet completely isolated on their island with Brexit. Many a personal fate might have turned out differently. For example, the case of a Tyrolean whose British father voted for Brexit. When his daughter pointed out: “But dad, why did you vote for Brexit, your children live in the EU?” he realized his mistake. He hadn’t even thought of that when he ticked the box in the heat of the moment.
