Misgivings
There was a Europe-wide sigh of relief on 31 January when Brexit became a certainty. The feeling on both sides of the Channel was that the tough divorce negotiations would now come to an end and that the stage was set for achieving a new, unique partnership between the EU and the United Kingdom. The good intentions lasted just two days. When, at the start of the week, Prime Minister Johnson and EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier, almost simultaneously presented their ideas and timetable for the next 11 months, it became clear that the two sides could not be further apart and that a free trade agreement is still a long way off. Without wishing to be pessimistic, there is an impending sense of déjà vu.
One can only hope that not every EU summit will again be taken up with Brexit this year. Having said that, the next meeting of the EU Heads of State and Government will partly concern the British, even if they are no longer at the table. On 20 February, the future EU budget will be on the agenda including the matter of how to fill the financial gap left by the British.
Harald Händel
Head of Communication |
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| Instrument for convergence and competitiveness |
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The budgetary instrument for convergence and competitiveness should provide that eurozone countries that implement structural reforms will receive money which must be use for investment by way of co-financing. A total annual volume of 2.4 billion euros is being discussed. The cep has evaluated the instrument in an input.
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| EU Taxonomy for sustainability |
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After tough negotiations, the European Parliament and EU Member States have agreed on an EU taxonomy. They have thereby provided a binding definition for environmentally sustainable activities and investments. cep has assessed the agreement in an Adhoc.
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“We will negotiate very fairly but we will be tough. Only when everything has been negotiated will we tie it all together and put a signature at the bottom, there will be no cherry-picking beforehand.”
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on the negotiations with the United Kingdom |
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“The risk of a hard break between the EU and the United Kingdom at the end of the year is not yet off the table”.
cep Head of Division Dr. Bert Van Roosebeke |
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“The plans for an EU taxonomy are extremely high-risk because they jeopardise financial market stability.”
cep Board of Directors Prof. Dr. Lüder Gerken |
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“Instead of focussing on tightening up ineffectual maximum limits, the EU Parliament would do better to consider emissions trading for transport at EU level.”
cep expert Dr. Matthias Kullas |
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| Brexit in numbers The EU loses 66,647,112 citizens and shrinks by 248,527.8 km2 16,141,241 Britons would have preferred to stay in the EU, 17,410,742 wanted to leave 24 EU summits alone dealt with the brexit The European Parliament loses 73 British MEPs Two prime ministers had to leave In May 2012 the word "brexit" appeared for the first time in an English blog post Britain leaves the EU after a total of 17,197 days The EU will have to get by with around 14 billion euros less per year in future EU gross domestic product shrinks by 2.424 trillion euros (Source: Die Zeit from January 30th 2020) |
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