Ten years of Brexit: what are the takeaways?
Ten years ago the British voted to leave the EU. In the meantime the UK has had no less than six prime ministers, and is about to appoint its seventh. Europe's press takes stock and reflects on how the EU and the UK have changed.
Labour must work to rejoin the single market
The Independent points to the devastating consequences of Brexit and makes the case for rejoining the EU:
“Leaving the European Union has reduced UK GDP by between 6 and 8 percent. Investment has plummeted by an estimated 18 percent. ... [P]roductivity and employment has reduced by three to four percent.... [P]eople in towns like Wigan voted for Brexit because they wanted change – but Brexit quite obviously did not fix the economic and social problems that drove that vote in the first place. If Labour had any sense, they'd follow their gut instinct and work on rejoining the single market.”
Warning against radical change
We must all learn from Brexit, Večernji list cautions:
“Brexit will be lodged in the collective memory as a warning, not just to Britons but to all EU member states: If you leave the EU, you will end up like Britain! ... It's not the first time that an ideological movement calling for radical change justifies its failure by saying that the idea was good, but it was tricky to put into action. If nothing about it worked, then perhaps the idea was no so great after all.”
Populist politics are a dead end
De Volkskrant spells out the lesson to be learned from Brexit:
“Moderate politicians such as Prime Minister Keir Starmer have no chance in the harsh post-Brexit climate. The Brexit fiasco shows yet again that pandering to the electorate in an attempt to take the wind out of the populists' sails is a dead end. It generally results in mismanagement, which plays yet further into the hands of the populists. It is also a warning to all those who foment Euro-scepticism to win elections. Yes, the EU has undeniable disadvantages, but life outside it is a lot worse.”
EU better without the British
Jordi Juan, editor-in-chief of La Vanguardia reflects on how the EU has fared without Britain:
“Many key decisions, such as the creation of the Next Generation Fund, the European Green Deal or immigration policy, might not have been supported by the British, or only with great difficulty. The UK never joined the Schengen Agreement or adopted the euro. It was always reluctant to fully commit itself to Europe. ... If that hadn't been the case, and if young Britons were more pro-European, the UK would be an excellent partner and would greatly strengthen the EU.”
Self-deprecating humour sorely missed
The EU has learned to get by without the UK, notes The Economist:
“In many ways the EU has remained the same. English is even more of a lingua franca in Brussels than it was in 2016. ... Perhaps the biggest impact of Brexit was on EU morale. The bloc out-negotiated Britain at every turn of the four-year-long divorce. That gave it confidence to face later crises, whether covid or Ukraine. Yet the self-deprecating humour of Britain's EU contingent remains sorely missed, even among their former ideological enemies.”
Europe has shifted to the right
Brexit has permanently changed Europe, according to an analysis by historian Andrew Knapp in Le Monde:
“Brexit and the nature of the Brexit campaigns have ushered in a decade of decisive victories for the far right across the globe. It is now on the verge of attaining political power in both France and Germany, and is already firmly entrenched in Italy. It is also gaining influence within the EU. ... In the unlikely event of the British returning to the EU, they would find a completely different Europe to the one they left ten years ago.”