Please see below relevant updates for your businesses/members and supply chains including your EU workforce, trading partners, and hauliers.
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With the UK due to officially leave the EU on March 29th 2019, we now have less than 6 months to not only fully understand how the EU works, but what it does for those on the inside and what effects not being at the decision making tables at the European Parliament in Brussels, Strasbourg and Luxembourg will mean for the UK. Did you even know that the EU meets in not one, not two but three cities across Western Europe, with meetings for the whole Parliament taking place in Brussels and Strasbourg and admin being done primarily in Luxembourg? Second only to India for the size of the electorate, the power and impact of the EU cannot be underestimated. Educational programmes such as Horizon 2020 and Erasmus and key to its value, with the former acting as the largest EU Research and Innovation (R&I) programme with over €80bn of funding over 7 years between 2014 – 2020. The sheer power of this as an economic driver for advances in science, medicine, tech and the creative industries cannot be underestimated, creating a genuine single market for knowledge, business opportunity as well as R & I.
28 countries across Europe, soon to be 27, with a shared agenda across finances, IP and sustainable initiatives, creates a powerful trading bloc which represents over 500m people.
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The Japanese fashion market is worth $25.45bn, with a consumer who has historically bought into British fashion brands: both heritage and avant-garde. This deal is predicted to boost the EU economy by 0.8%: a trade boost which the UK has no part of for a consumer who would have bought into Brand Britain. This agreement gives European stakeholders access to one of the strongest markets in the world (third in GDP), allowing them to diversify their investments and expand production in an era of increasing instability.
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"Why is the UK Government discussing options that a) will be rejected by the EU b) will not be possible to implement in the given time period?”
Donald Tusk, President of the European Council said: "It will make it more complicated and costly than today for all of us. This is the essence of Brexit."
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As in all negotiations parties go in considering their own best interest and asking for everything they feel they can and should have. It would be great to have a written position on the asks and offers of the UK Government as well. It seems for the time being there are statements made behind closed doors (in Brussels) and statements made in public (in the UK) and these two are not quite aligned yet.
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"While the EU and the UK is moving into the 'second phase" of negotiating a transitional agreement, it is clear that apart from high level policy agreements few details have been clarified and nothing has been written down. This is reflected in the very first point of the EU Council conclusions....
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