It is not clear how the UK will maintain relations and conduct its foreign policy
ISLAMABAD: In the June 23 referendum, held throughout the UK and Gibraltar, voters decided to leave the European Union (EU). After the announcement of the results, Prime Minister David Cameron decided to resign. Going into the background of the referendum, the terms of renegotiated membership were concluded by Cameron with EU leaders at Brussels earlier in the year. After returning home, he announced a referendum to be held on June 23. The British voters have rejected the bid to remain in the UK on renegotiated terms. This is a great blow to the EU and has set a precedent for other members to follow suit, along with the practice of renegotiating terms of membership. This may result in restructuring and reorganisation of the Union. Furthermore, the exit vote has weakened the EU, both economically and politically. After the UK’s withdrawal, the economic size of the Union would definitely shrink as Britain had been the second-largest economy in the body.
The British will now have to negotiate a new relationship with the EU. It is not clear how the UK will maintain relations and conduct its foreign policy. The victory of Brexit advocates has also damaged the business interests of UK citizens. A great number of British entrepreneurs have invested huge capital in various sectors of the single EU market. This historic development will now deprive them of this competitive and regularised market, unless new terms of engagement are concluded. It has also limited the UK’s say in European affairs from a common platform. Similarly, it has devastated Cameron’s political career, which could only have been consolidated if the ‘Remain’ side had won. In sum, it can be said that this development has inflicted an immense blow to not only the EU, but also the UK.
Aijaz Hussain Behan
Published in The Express Tribune, June 26th, 2016.
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