After months of uncertainty, the United Kingdom and the European Union have struck a deal on a post-Brexit trade agreement. The highly coveted agreement that was reached after months of tough negotiations, entailed compromises by both sides but also fetched both the UK and the EU some solid gains.
President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen broke the news to the media, saying: “Ladies and gentlemen, after the end of a successful negotiations’ journey, I normally feel joy. But today I only feel quiet 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 – ‘parting is such sweet sorrow’. But to use a line from T.S. Eliot – ‘what we call the beginning is often the end, and to make an end is to make a beginning’. So to all Europeans, I say, it is time to leave Brexit behind, our future is made in Europe.”
The British Prime Minister also expressed great satisfaction over the deal and promised the continuation of the strong relationship between the UK and the EU. Addressing the media, Boris Johnson emphasised: “And so I say again directly to our EU friends and partners, I think this deal means a new stability and a new certainty in what has sometimes been a fractious and difficult relationship. We will be your friend, your ally, your supporter and indeed never let it be forgotten, your number one market. Because although we have left the EU, this country will remain culturally, emotionally, historically, strategically, geologically attached to Europe. Not least of course through the 4 million EU nationals who have requested to settle in the UK over the last four years and who make an enormous contribution to our country and our lives.”
All this camaraderie is good optics but what was at the heart of the negotiations, that began once the UK voted for Brexit; a vote that saw the fall of two Prime Ministers and a nation-divided? Is it a win-win for all or there is more to this than meets the eye?
A PLATFORM FOR NEW RELATIONS
One huge gain of this deal is to procure a legal platform on which the post-Brexit relations between the EU and UK can build their relations. For the EU it was important to ensure that UK gets access to the single market of the EU only if the British agree to honour and abide by the rules and standards set by the EU.
According to Ursula von der Leyen, the EC President, the UK has agreed to do so. The EU also needed a mechanism to retaliate if the UK undercut the rules of the agreement and this too was achieved by this deal. For Boris Johnson, this was the election plank, which he fought on. He promised the people of the United Kingdom that he would get Brexit done and this deal is like a “promise-fulfilled” and so he is hailing it as a victory for his people and a new chapter in our national story.
GAINS AND COMPROMISES
One significant development is the end of Britain’s membership of the European single market that it has enjoyed for the last three decades. British and EU companies will have preferential access to each other’s markets and imported goods will be free of tariffs and quotas.
According to the UK’s Office for Budget Responsibility, Britain will lose 4% of potential GDP for 15 years compared to what it could have achieved under EU membership. Although the deal allows tariff and quota-free trade of goods, at the dawn of 2021 when UK’s Brexit kicks off, a hard and regulatory border will emerge between the EU and the UK with goods facing checks and controls. In terms of fair business competition, the UK will not be required to follow EU rules or be subject to the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice. However, there is a mechanism to check if both sides adhere to a ‘level playing field’ policy in terms of environmental standards, state-subsidies to specific industries.
The EU fishermen will continue to have complete access to UK waters for a transition period of five years and a half. After the transition period, there will be annual negotiations. If the British revoke EU fishermen from accessing UK waters, the EU has the right to retaliate and impose tariffs on fish coming from the United Kingdom. European nationals will no longer be allowed unfettered access and freedom of movement in the UK. This was one of the major issues for the “leave” camp of Brexit and this will allow the UK to design a new immigration system. It will also be the other way round for the British but they can avail of visa-waiver programmes and the various rules in EU nations for the right to work.
NATIONALISM VS GLOBALISM DEBATE
Academic literature tells us that at the heart of nationalism lies the philosophy that a single national identity is based on shared social characteristics of culture, ethnicity, geographic location, language, politics (or the government), religion, traditions and belief in a shared singular history. Nationalism holds that each nation should govern itself, free from outside interference (self-determination), that a nation is a natural and ideal basis for a polity and that the nation is the only rightful source of political power.
This philosophy is merely an extension of the tribal culture and a tribal society that is based on loyalty of the individuals to the tribe irrespective of ideology and the tribe’s correctness of actions and policies. Hence, as a member of a tribe, one is obliged to fight for its hegemony or battles that were initiated for territorial expansion and economic supremacy. This was a regressive system which was constructed on the truism of “might is right” and “survival of the fittest”.
In contrast to this, inward-looking system is the philosophy of globalism. According to Alvin Carpio, (Chief Executive of The Fourth Group, and member of the World Economic Forum’s Expert Network), “History has taught us that, when nationalism is left to rise without accountability or a counter-force, terrible things can happen. The problems of humanity can be resolved with democratic globalism. Democratic globalism is the idea that all people matter, no matter where they live, and that universal freedom and human rights can be fostered for all mankind. World citizens believe in civic globalism and that by thinking globally and acting locally they can affect positive change across all barriers.”
This is the same thing that is advocated by the Qur’ān when it says – “Human beings, We created you all from a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes so that you may know one another. Verily the noblest of you in the sight of Allah is the most God-fearing of you. Surely Allah is All-Knowing, All-Aware (49:13).
Delving on this ayah, in his magnum opus – Tafheemul Qur’ān, Maulana Syed Abul Ala Maudoodi explains: “The whole of mankind has been addressed to reform it of the great evil that has always been causing universal disruption in the world, that is, the prejudices due to race, colour, language, country, and nationality. Because of these prejudices, man in every age has generally been discarding humanity, drawing around himself some small circles, and regarding those born within those circles as “his own people” and those outside them as “others”. These circles have been drawn based on accidental birth and not on rational and moral grounds.”
Brexit and the subsequent trade deal shows why the world must shun toxic-nationalism and adopt benevolent and ethical globalism. Tying oneself to self-drawn circles isn’t the best way to reach for the skies.