Brexit is an abbreviation of english words britain (Britain) and exit (exit) which became popular with campaigns for and against the departure of the United Kingdom from the European Union. The choice of output was determined by means of a referendum voted on June 23, 2016 by 17.4 million people. This result ended up also costing the resignation of the prime minister of England, David Cameron, who advocated permanence in the European Union.
David Cameron proposed a referendum on the UK's withdrawal from European Union if he won the 2015 general elections. The final result of the referendum was:
Exit: 17,410,742, totaling 51.9% of the valid votes;
permanence: 16,141,241, totaling 48.1% of the valid votes.
With the defeat of "permanence", the prime minister, David Cameron, resigned from office and was succeeded by Theresa May, former minister of the interior. Theresa May won the Conservative Party internal dispute and managed to be named Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. She is the first woman to hold the position since Margaret Thatcher.
Purposes and organization of the European Union
To better understand what the UK's departure from the European Union represents, it is necessary to know for what purposes the EU was created and how it is organised.
The European Union, which, with the United Kingdom, had 28 member countries, was born in 1957, under the name of European Economic Community (EEC). The EEC was created through the Treaty of Rome and had two fundamental purposes: to politically and economically integrate Europe, in the in the post-war context, and to prevent, through this integration, the emergence of rivalries similar to those that gave rise to the First and the Second World Wars.
The EEC was consolidated in the second half of the 20th century through other treaties. Among the main ones are:
O Maastricht Treaty, 1992, which created the Euro, in order to monetize the member countries;
O Amsterdam Treaty, 1997, which instituted the Common Foreign Security Policy (CFSP);
O Lisbon Treaty, 2007, which reformed some of the main elements of the European Constitution, promulgated on June 18, 2004.
This entire system of treaties and the European Constitution itself provided the basis for what is now known as the European Union, which has specific institutions for the three powers main (executive, legislative and judiciary): the Commission and the European Council (executive), the European Parliament (legislative) and the Court of Justice of the European Union (judiciary). To better understand this structure, access the text: European Union structure.
Insertion of the United Kingdom in the European Union
The United Kingdom entered the European Union, at the time CEE, on January 1, 1973, but it was not long before there were the first challenges to the CEE political-economic model. Two years later, on June 5, 1975, a referendum had to be voted to resolve the impasse that the United Kingdom lived in relation to the permanence or exit of the EEC, in a similar way to what happened in 2016. The population went to the polls and decided to stay.
Furthermore, another impasse that the British were also living with regarding the EU concerned the monetary issue. The UK never agreed to join the eurozone, that is, your currency, the lsterling fiber, was never subject to the monetary standard of the common European currency.
Two important figures in the pro-Brexit campaign
The two most important personalities in the pro-Brexit campaign were: Boris Johnson and Nigelfarage. The first, member of the English Conservative Party, former mayor of London and former president of the House of Lords, was a direct rival of David Cameron and a strong candidate to be the new prime minister of England. The second, creator of United Kingdom Independence Party (UK Independence Party), never held a position in the British Parliament, but had a wide influence in a large part of British society, mainly because of his speech in favor of anti-immigration policies.
The United Kingdom decided to leave the European Union in a referendum held on 23 June 2016
Negotiations for the completion of Brexit
For the departure from the UK to be completed, activation of the Article 50 of the Treaty of Lisbon. Article 50 was ratified by all member countries of the European Union in December 2007 and stipulated the procedures necessary to conduct negotiations if any country wishes to leave the economic bloc. According to Article 50, the country interested in leaving the European Union must formalize the request by informing its intention to the European Council, which will take over negotiations with the country interested in leaving the block.
O United Kingdom activated Article 50 on March 29, 2017, making its intention to leave the economic bloc official. From now on, the United Kingdom and the Council of Europe will negotiate the terms foreseen to lead to the complete exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union. The expected negotiation period is two years and, in that period, the United Kingdom remains a member of the bloc. The exit will only be made official when all negotiations are completed, in April 2019, as planned. If necessary, negotiations can be extended if the members of the European Council approve.
If the UK completes Brexit, will it be able to return to the European Union if it so wishes?
Yes, however, you will have to go through the long process for your ticket to be approved again. In addition, if you want to return, you must have the unanimous support of the nations that are part of the European Union.
Can the UK withdraw from Brexit during negotiations?
As Article 50 of the Treaty of Lisbon was never triggered, the issue generates a certain impasse. Some experts claim that Article 50 expresses the intention of a country to leave the bloc and, in that case, there could be a process of withdrawal at any time. Other experts disagree and say that if the UK withdraws during the process, it must await approval from the member countries of the Council of Europe.
Possible consequences for the UK
Once the UK exit is consolidated in April 2019, the British economy is expected to suffer impacts, although it is very difficult to predict them. The International Monetary Fund, for example, has published a study that estimates that the british economy shrinks from 1.5% to 9.5% with the consolidation of the exit. There are, however, those who disagree with the data presented, arguing that the UK will have the freedom to make economic agreements freely with other countries and that this will benefit the British economy.
The economic issue raises domestic concern, as many British producers export products in greater quantities to member countries of the European Union. If there are no UK economic agreements with each country in this bloc, many producers may stay no buyers for their products or they may see export values increase, which would decrease the profit.
Another controversial issue involving Brexit is the future of workers Europeans living in the UK. As the Brexit debate was based on the issue of controlling British borders, this issue is sensitive and raises concern among Europeans living in the UK. The British government has made no statements regarding its intentions with European residents, so it is believed that this issue will be debated during the two-year period foreseen for the negotiations. happen. The number of immigrants who went to the UK in 2016, inclusive, decreased by around 50 thousand compared to the previous year, with a significant drop in people from Eastern Europe.
Another important issue to be debated is the cooperation agreements for the issue of security against fundamentalism and the actions of Islamic terrorist groups.
Brexit rekindled separatist movements in the UK
The UK's departure from the European Union has also rekindled the debate for Scottish independence. Historically Scotland has always had a large portion of the population with separatist discourse. In 2014, the country had rejected in a referendum the departure of the United Kingdom. Thus, as Scotland does not want to leave the European bloc, the debate returned with force in the country.
Scottish parliamentarians approved on 28 March 2017 the holding of a new referendum to consult the interest of the population in Scotland's withdrawal from the United Kingdom. This was because 62% of the country voted to remain in the European bloc. For this reason, Scottish parliamentarians find it necessary to carry out a new consultation with the population. British Prime Minister Theresa May went to Glasgow, Scotland, to convince the Scottish Prime Minister to drop the idea of holding a new referendum, but there was no agreement.
Northern Ireland also voted to remain in the European bloc, and the choice to leave could lead to a debate for Irish reunification, according to experts.
* Image credits: Charlie Bard and Shutterstock
By Me. Cláudio Fernandes and Daniel Neves - Graduated in History
Source: Brazil School - https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/historiag/brexit-ou-saida-inglaterra-uniao-europeia.htm
