Negotiations on a deal to realize Britain's exit from the European Union have had extremely rough going. If Brexit is realized without reaching a deal, it will prove disadvantageous to both parties. Based on this common awareness, Britain and the EU must bridge the divisions between them.
Reviewing the state of the negotiations to determine the terms of Brexit and the future Britain-EU relationship, an EU summit judged that not enough progress has been made and decided to postpone the deadline for a deal beyond November as scheduled. The negotiations will most likely drag on into December.
Britain will leave the EU on March 29 next year. Taking into consideration the procedures for approval on the deal by the parliaments of Britain and the EU, it is fair to consider that the negotiations have entered the stage where it is a race against time.
The biggest factor behind the difficulties is the issue of managing the border between Northern Ireland, part of the United Kingdom, and Ireland, an EU member.
Northern Ireland has experienced bloody conflicts over the issue of which country's sovereignty it should be under. Britain and the EU have agreed on the maintenance of free travel with Ireland to sustain peace.
As a concrete measure, the EU has called for retaining Northern Ireland within the EU Customs Union even after Brexit. Britain has refused the proposal, arguing it will cause a division of the United Kingdom, being a point of confrontation.
If the situation remains unchanged, the issue over Northern Ireland could hamper the conclusion of a comprehensive agreement aimed for by both Britain and the EU. Both sides should search for common ground from a broad perspective.
Secure U.K. domestic accord
If no deal is hammered out, the transitional period set to maintain the current bilateral relationship until the end of 2020 -- a measure to soften the impact of sudden post-Brexit changes -- will not be approved. Preparations for the introduction of tariffs will not be made in time, inevitably bringing about chaos.
British Prime Minister Theresa May referred to the possibility of the transitional period being extended while European Council President Donald Tusk expressed the intention to study the matter in a forward-looking manner. A realistic option could be for the two sides to reach a broad agreement by the end of this year, followed by extension of the transitional period and fine-tuning of details.
During his tour of Europe, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and expressed anxiety over the stagnation of Brexit negotiations. Abe had every reason to call for minimizing the adverse effects of Brexit on Japanese businesses operating in European countries.
Japanese carmakers produce about 800,000 vehicles a year in Britain and export most of them to EU nations. If Brexit leads to chaos in the distribution of goods and financial transactions, it will deal a blow to the economy of Japan and that of nations around the world. Britain and the EU are called on to recognize this.
A matter of worry is that Britain is divided over concrete measures to realize Brexit. Some members of the ruling Conservative Party, who advocate a hard Brexit, have persistently opposed the soft Brexit policy line put forth by May. She must exercise her leadership to secure domestic consensus on Brexit.
(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Oct. 20, 2018)
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
