What comes after the UK EU-referendum?
June 23rd, 2016A left-wing economist expects total uncertainty in the event that UK voters decide to leave the EU. Another left-wing analyst thinks that the victory of ‘remain’ would be not prove any less challenging for the unity of the EU.
No one has a clue what Brexit would actually imply, Zoltán Pogátsa writes in Magyar Nemzet. If British voters decide to leave, EU-UK relations will need to be completely renegotiated, the left-wing economist notes, but it has not yet been discussed whether Brexit should mean complete independence from the EU, or rather only looser cooperation between the UK and the European Union. At this point, however, it is absolutely unclear if the UK would remain part of the EU single market, nor is it known what would happen with EU citizens already working and living in the UK, Pogátsa points out.
If the UK stays within the EU, the implications may even be more devastating than Brexit, Péter Balázs writes in Népszabadság. The former Socialist Foreign Minister admits that it is unclear what exactly happens if British voters decide to leave the EU. But what happens if they decide to stay is equally uncertain, Balázs remarks. He suspects that if the UK stays, the British government will try to negotiate a special status within the EU. If the UK achieves special arrangements, other countries may follow suit and will try to secure for themselves specific benefits and exemptions. This, Balázs suggests, may be even more devastating for EU unity than Brexit.