{"id":2089,"date":"2020-12-25T23:45:54","date_gmt":"2020-12-25T23:45:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.markargent.com\/blog\/?p=2089"},"modified":"2020-12-25T23:57:01","modified_gmt":"2020-12-25T23:57:01","slug":"ursula-von-der-leyen-gets-it-right-on-brexit-alas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.markargent.com\/blog\/ursula-von-der-leyen-gets-it-right-on-brexit-alas\/","title":{"rendered":"Ursula von der Leyen gets it right on Brexit, alas"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
Ursula von der Leyen<\/figcaption><\/figure>In her statement on the conclusion of the talks<\/a> she said, with measured dignity:<\/p>\n


<\/p>\n

\nSo, we have finally found an agreement. It was a long and winding road but we have finally got a good deal to show for it. It is fair. It is a balanced deal. It is the right and responsible thing to do for both sides.
\n<\/p>\n

Of course this whole debate has always been about sovereignty. But we should cut through the sound bites and ask ourselves what sovereignty actually means in the 21st century. For me, it is about to seemlessly do work, travel and study in 27 countries. It is about pooling our strength and speaking together in a world full of great powers, and in a time of crisis, it is about pulling each other up, instead of trying to get back to your feet alone.<\/p>\n

The United Kingdom is a third country, but it remains a trusted partner. We are long-standing allies. We share the same values and interests.<\/p>\n

At the end of a successful negotiation\u2019s journey, I normally feel joy but today I only feel quite satisfaction and, frankly-speaking, relief. I know this is a difficult day for some and to our friends in the United Kingdom I want to say \u201cparting is such sweet sorrow\u201d. But, to use a line from T.S.Elliot \u201cWhat we call the beginning is often the end, and to make an end is to make a beginning\u201d. So, to all Europeans I say \u201cit is time to leave Brexit behind. Our future is made in Europe\u201d.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The contrast with Boris Johnson\u2019s statement is stark. He bumbles about a fantasised \u201cindependence\u201d \u2014 impossible in the modern world \u2014 she talks realistically about what sovereignty is today. We\u2019re in a world of big powers, where the UK\u2019s idealised memories of empire say more about no longer being at the top table than the possibility of reclaiming our standing.<\/p>\n

As usual, it is European pragmatism. The EU \u201cpunishing\u201d Britain for leaving was only ever a fantasy in the mind of the more paranoid Brexiteers. <\/p>\n

The EU has successfully done a \u201cnegotiate and move on\u201d. The UK now faces the consequences. Even on Covid19, where the UK made a great fuss about its imagined superiority in getting a vaccine out first, the reality is that the vaccine now being deployed was developed in Germany and manufactured in Belgium. It was released early not because Brexit made that possible, but because the EU regulations, in force until the end of December 2020, allow a government to release a vaccine early in emergency conditions.<\/p>\n

Now the UK faces a difficult time. It remains hard to see how we can come to a better arrangement than we had as EU members and hard to discern \u201cnew\u201d opportunities that didn\u2019t already exist. <\/p>\n

Having lied to win a referendum, and lied again about an \u201coven ready deal\u201d that has taken a year from being \u201coven ready\u201d to completion, he now has to deliver what he promised. He also has to face the wrath of the people to whom he lied, and the others who will suffer culturally and economically because of his lying.<\/p>\n

A humbled UK may well be seeking to rejoin the EU before long. Or perhaps it will be an independent Scotland followed by a humbled remnant of the UK. <\/p>\n

I suspect that the announcement has come on Christmas Eve to minimise debate in the UK. I feel sorry for MPs who face the choice between a bad deal and an even-worse \u201cno deal\u201d when they vote on this. I feel sorry for those who thought that \u201cno deal\u201d would mean \u201ccarry on as usual\u201d.<\/p>\n

Ursula von der Leyen, in making her statement, has shown the UK want wise and mature leadership looks like. In the UK we will need political leaders of comparable wisdom and maturity who can say \u201cit\u2019s time to rejoin\u201d rather than shysters who claim that the \u201csunlit uplands\u201d are forever \u201caround the next corner\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In contrast with Boris Johnson\u2019s hubristic announcement<\/a>, Ursula von der Leyen has got it right on the sadness of Brexit \u2014 and the folly of the fantasy of \u201csovereignty\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":false,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"","_twitter_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type":"","_pinterest_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[249,72,302],"tags":[303],"class_list":["post-2089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-boris-johnson","category-brexit-politics","category-ursula-von-der-leyen","tag-brexit-agreement"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markargent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2089","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markargent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markargent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markargent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markargent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2089"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.markargent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2089\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2109,"href":"https:\/\/www.markargent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2089\/revisions\/2109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markargent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markargent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markargent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}