Understanding Brexit

Arie Paksi
 The History Behind Brexit
• 1957: France, West Germany, Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands signed the Treaty of
Paris, which established the European Economic Community (EEC), the predecessor of today’s
European Union.
• 1963: UK first applied membership in the EEC, but vetoed by France
• 1873: the UK finally made it into the club, but two years later was in the verge of backing out again.
The nation held a referendum and the 67 percent of most administrative counties say “Yes”.
• 1984: tensions between the EEC and the UK exploded when PM Thatcher demanded to reduce
British payments to the EEC budget.
• 1993: The EU was created and designed to integrate Europe’s nations politically and economically,
including a united foreign policy, common citizenship rights and (for most member nations, not
including the UK) a single currency, the euro.
• 2007: the EU member nations negotiated Lisbon Treaty, which gave Brussels broader powers.
Labour PM Gordon Brown famously missed a televised ceremony in which the leaders of the 26
other member nations signed the treaty. He later signed the document, but was criticized for failing
to defend a treaty he had helped to negotiate In the interests of protecting Britain’s financial sector.
• 2011: PM David Cameron became the first UK prime minister to veto a EU treaty. He promised to
renegotiate membership in the EU if his Conservative Party won a majority in the next general
election. This also grew the hard line stance against the EU.
• 2015: Cameron reelected and went to work renegotiating the UK-EU relationship, including
changes in migrant welfare payments, financial safeguards and easier ways for Britain to block EU
regulations. In February 2016, he announced the results of those negotiations, and set June 23 as
the date of the promised referendum.
Vote results
Nationality of migrants living in the UK
Share of total contributions to the European Union
budget in 2016, by Member State
 Vote results
1. England voted for Brexit, by 53.4% to 46.6%.
2. Wales also voted for Brexit, with Leave
getting 52.5% of the vote and Remain 47.5%.
3. Scotland and Northern Ireland both backed
staying in the EU. Scotland backed Remain by
62% to 38%, while 55.8% in Northern Ireland
voted Remain and 44.2% Leave
 Why did Northern Ireland and
Scotland vote Remain?
1. The EU runs a comprehensive regional development fund with deep
pockets, investing billions of pounds around the entire island of Ireland
and in the most deprived parts of Scotland
2. The EU has facilitated devolution process which make both Scotland and
Northern Ireland enjoy a more autonomous and equal relationship with
London
3. To date, the EU has injected billions of pound peace-building money into
Northern Ireland
4. The central argument of BREXIT which is on immigration control did not
really popular among the Scots and Irish because they have been forced
to seek work abroad themselves for so many generations
5. The Irish and Scots has become fundamentally more comfortable with
the notion of belonging to at least two distinguishable cultural or
political identities (Scottish, British, then it is not as awkward to add a
third tier, European, to this identity mix).
The impact of BREXIT to UK
Seven most affected industries employ 20.79% of the UK
labour force and generate 53.2% of UK total exports

Financial services and Insurance Sectors

Automobile

Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals

Aerospace

Capital Goods and Machinery

Food, Beverage and Tobacco

Professional Services
The impact of BREXIT to EU citizens
UK government new immigration proposal:
EU citizens who have been living in the UK
continuously for five years by the end of
December 2020 will automatically be eligible for
settled status, provided they have no serious
criminal convictions
 The biggest issue on the table
1. Northern Ireland and the Irish border
2. Trade and the Single Market
3. Immigration and freedom of movement
4. The Brexit bill
5. Citizens’ rights
6. Regulation
7. Security
8. Fisheries
9. Agriculture
10. Aviation rights
Thanks