The Big Deal of No Deal Brexit

We are now less than 20 weeks away from Brexit, and the possibility of the United Kingdom dropping out of the European Union without having secured a deal with Brussels is a growing possibility. The invocation of Article 50 last year triggered a countdown to 29 March 29 2019, which is when the UK will automatically cease to be a member of the Union. Negotiations have been anything but smooth and, as things stand, there is little to suggest that the situation will be any less complicated after the UK formally exits the bloc.

European cooperation has sunk so deeply in the way member states and their citizens interact that it is not immediately clear what a no-deal scenario could be like. Legalistically, unless an agreement with Brussels is reached in time, Britain will become a third country and its relationship with the EU will be governed in accordance with WTO regulations.

The implications of this would be sudden and tangible and one could argue that, in such circumstances, there is as much control to be taken back as given up. From commerce and the economy, to mobility and roaming, the effects of a no-deal Brexit run wide and deep.

Read Jesmond Saliba’s insight on The Malta Independent