Here without the EU
Regarding the future of EU-UK trade, it is crucial to find a solution to the volatile situation at the Northern Ireland border so that the Good Friday Agreement is not jeopardized. Meanwhile, the EU should not allow a de facto backdoor to the Single Market. To quote professor Kalypso Nicolaïdis, the problem with the Brits is that they are “too French” – avoir le beurre, l’argent du beurre et les baisers de la fermiere (loosely translated “wanting not only to have their cake and eat it but also to kiss the baker’s daughter”). Indeed, this time they must be more realistic and eventually they might be forced to be satisfied only with a cake. However, why not a cake and a handshake?
The UK’s tilt to the Indo-Pacific: what concrete implications for Australia?
50 years after the then UK defence secretary Denis Healey announced Britain’s retreat from the Indo-Pacific in 1968, the UK is once again drawn into the geoeconomic and geostrategic challenges of the maritime region. This desire to extend Britain’s strategic horizon was accelerated by the vote to leave the EU in 2016. In particular, the decision to leave the European single market has forced Downing Street to strengthen its trading relationships with partners beyond the EU – a considerable number of which reside in the Indo-Pacific region.
