politics, economy and employment & labour
The European Union will soon be faced with the start of Brexit negotiations. How did you experience the referendum, and what were the key drivers behind the decision to leave the EU? In my view, the referendum was primarily a political decision, made by the Conservative government, to ensure that they could enter their national […]
In June 2016, the people of Scotland overwhelmingly expressed their wish to remain part of the EU. As the UK Government is readying to trigger the Article 50 process –against the will of the people of Scotland – the question we must ask is: do we want to be an open, forward-looking progressive Scotland that […]
Can the EU recover from the Brexit shock, and what are the EU’s best options: more integration, less integration – or better integration? Brexit was indeed a shock, but we would do better to start seeing it as an opportunity. We have to live with the reality that the majority of Brits do not want […]
How does Brexit influence the economic and political development in Ireland, in your opinion? Well, it’s a major issue for us. Britain is Ireland’s largest trading partner in the world, and Britain is Ireland’s number one food export destination. It accounts for about 40% of all our Irish food and drink exports. That includes consumer […]
It’s indeed rare but not unusual for voters to get rid of their political elites. Many western democracies now find themselves in a phase in which deep distrust towards the prevailing economic policy has developed. Via elections as in the USA or referendums as in the UK this distrust comes to a head and fundamentally […]
The UK’s decision to withdraw from the EU is a blow to Central Europe. The region worries that the post-Brexit EU will be, among other things, less resolute in its response to an increasingly assertive Russia. The Central European countries will urge other member-states to maintain close ties with post-Brexit Britain. They will oppose any […]
What is your analysis of the recent Brexit vote and what do you think were the key drivers behind this decision? On the 23rd June, a narrow majority of the British people decided that their country should leave the European Union. Of course, I respect this democratic decision, but I deeply regret what happened to […]
Perhaps the biggest commonplace in Brussels is that the EU always develops through crisis. It is repeated so often and without any proper explanation of why the various crises are occurring that listeners become complacent rather than alarmed. And Brexit is happening at a time of multiple crises. While immigration/asylum is probably rightly seen as […]
How do you analyse the Brexit vote? First of all, the vote is uniquely British, reflecting the country’s difficult history with the European Union and, no doubt, its status as an island nation that has resisted invasion for almost a thousand years. The UK stood apart when the six founding countries created the common market. […]
Mr Habermas, did you ever think Brexit would be possible? What did you feel when you heard of the Leave campaign’s victory? It never entered my mind that populism would defeat capitalism in its country of origin. Given the existential importance of the banking sector for Great Britain and the media power and political clout […]
