IMPRESSION OF A BRIT What can Brexit mean for Brussels? I came to Brussels in 1967 as a British journalist and a convinced European, and I have never had reason to regret my decision. Richard Hill B ut, in the meantime, my mother-country has gone from espousing ‘the European Ideal’ to abandoning it. The UK is divided on this issue, 52% for Brexit and 48% against it according to the recent referendum, with many of the against’s (i.e. “stay in the EU”) coming from Scotland, Northern Ireland and the big cities, and the for’s (i.e. “leave”) representing the other sectors of society. Significantly, no less than 75% of voters aged 24 and under voted to stay. These better informed and younger generations have a much more open-minded appreciation of ‘things European’. The referendum results show the poorly informed, suspicious, even chauvinistic and antagonistic mentality of ‘Little Englanders’. On the other hand, support for the ‘European Ideal’ will strengthen as more and more young people come onto the electoral rolls. Moreover, the original promoters of Brexit, the UK Independence Party, has been almost wiped out in the local elections held in May. The days when the British had an atavistic ‘gut reaction’ to what the writer Thomas Carlyle called “the Continental nuisance called Bureaucracy” are almost over. Memories of Descartes and Napoleon – the two bogeymen of the pragmatic British – have faded. Moreover, Britain now has enough bureaucratic ‘red tape’ of its own… So what opportunities can Brexit offer Brussels? The simple answer is “a lot”, if only because Britain is still a major trading partner with Belgium (Belgian exports to the UK were nearly €32 billion in 2016, and imports €16 billion). But the ‘Brexit potential’ for Brussels goes a lot further than just a small matter of bilateral trade. The chief executive of investment bankers Goldman Sachs, a company that employs 6,500 people in the UK, admits that his company has contingency plans and warns that the City of London “will stall” because of the risks inherent in the Brexit process: the bank will be “bolstering” its presence in other European cities over the next 18 months. The implications of what Goldman Sachs may eventually do are obvious: move its European operations out of London. One swallow does not make a summer, but the trend may well intensify. J P Morgan has announced its intention to move staff from London to Dublin, and two other banking giants, HSBC and UBS, have said they are planning to move an aggregate of about 1,000 of their employees from London as a result of the Brexit vote. The potential for fallout in the manufacturing field is also significant. No less a world giant than Microsoft has joined a growing list of companies threatening to pull investment from the UK if Brexit goes ahead. The tech company – one of the world’s largest – says that the potential for “huge” import tariffs on its products mean it may have to reconsider future expansion in the UK. What should Brussels do, then? While Brussels can expect to benefit from Brexit, there are still a number of things that can be done to maximise the city’s claims, in the face of stiff opposition from other continental centres. For a start, anything the country can do to strengthen its regulatory framework, particularly in the banking and insurance fields, will enhance the international status of the capital. Second, whatever the British government may claim to the contrary, the Brexit environment will encourage key companies in the ICT, automotive and other high-tech sectors to reconsider their location strategies. NextTech, Audi and Altran may just be a start... Third, Brussels can play on the fact that it is the seat of the European Union’s major institutions. But the city has to give priority to a number of serious practical issues, in particular the standard of public services, a more vigorous response to environmental concerns and, notably, improved mobility in and around the city. These are all things that Brussels can do to maximise its Brexit potential. ● BECI - Bruxelles métropole - juin 2017 9 © Reporters D.R.
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