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Finland's Minister for Foreign Affairs, Pekko Haavisto, says the crisis over Brexit could have a beneficial effect on the European Union, pulling the bloc together
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- Title
- Brexit can be good for Europe, says Finland's Foreign Minister
- Published
- Jan 24 2020
- Word count
- 366 words
I can say as an external observer (Russian), that the Brexit cluster-fuck has solidified two thoughts in my head. The first thought is that the UK (well, England, really) is to Europe what the US is to the rest of the world: a largely unpredictable, overly-nationalistic, and overly-conservative looming power that others have to nevertheless constantly take into account. The second thought is that the EU is mostly going the right way, and in fact will probably progress even quicker, now that one of the most prominent nay-sayers is gone.
The UK is now a less desirable place for most immigrants, which is probably what some of the UK's establishment wanted in the first place, except that that includes the foreign professionals looking for a better place to live and work.I personally would post this link to ~news, but oh well.
Watching from the inside, I broadly agree with your first and last points. I shared an editorial the other week suggesting that one of the best possibilities here is England essentially being shocked out of its delusions of grandeur by the consequences of Brexit.
I'm not so sure that cutting away the UK will do much good for Europe, though. Delusions of grandeur or not, it is a significant part of the Union and the loss itself will likely be felt. Perhaps more to the point, the underlying political currents that enabled Brexit and Trump aren't unique to the UK and US. I honestly wish they were - it would give those of us who oppose all this somewhere to escape to - but nationalist, racist, authoritarian populism is rising in a way that Europe will have to counter effectively with or without the UK.
back in the good old days the colonies were a Mini-UK smh
What do you think is the right way for Europe to go?
Mostly the same way it goes right now. A united, technocratic-ish social market economy. I think most of Germanic Europe and the Baltics are already doing this, so they really just need to keep the populists at bay. I feel like populism is the main internal enenmy for the EU these days.