Brexit caused by underlying economic failures and disunity in EU: Analyst
Europe’s economic failure and growing disunity led to Britain’s referendum to leave the European Union, says an academic in London.
"There are a number of British commentators who are apparently shivering in their boots at the prospect of the Brexit negations," Rodney Shakespeare, a professor of economics, told Press TV on Wednesday.
“But those commentators are forgetting, firstly, that Europe is an economic failure. The jobs are not coming forward, they are low paid, temporary, insecure, which led to Brexit in the first place,” Shakespeare said.
“Secondly, if you look at Europe, you find that the countries of Europe are not united, they are completely disunited,” he added.
“And as a result, we are overall entering a situation of economic failure and political failure on the part of Europe, which led to a Brexit and we are entering a situation in which the UK will not be negotiating with the united bloc, but we will be negotiating with a disunited bloc in which over time, the splits and divisions will get stronger and stronger because of the underlying economic failure.”
He said that these failures will ultimately lead to "strong anti-Europe forces" in other major EU members, including France and Italy.
EU leaders say they are determined to preserve their unity and that any Brexit agreement must not encourage other member states to leave the bloc.
“And as a result, we are overall entering a situation of economic failure and political failure on the part of Europe, which led to a Brexit and we entering a situation in which the UK will not be negotiating with the united bloc, but we will be negotiating with a disunited bloc in which over time, the splits and divisions will get stronger and stronger because of the underlying economic failure.”
EU leaders say they are determined to preserve the bloc’s unity and that any Brexit agreement must not encourage other member states to leave the bloc.
The United Kingdom held a referendum last June in which Britons voted by a 52-48 percent margin to leave the EU, the first member state ever to do so.
On Wednesday, UK Prime Minister Theresa May formally triggered the formal, two-year process of withdrawing Britain from the EU.
Brussels is expected to deliver its first response to London on Friday, followed by a summit of EU leaders on April 29 to adopt their own guidelines, meaning it could take weeks before formal talks start.
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