Posted on 12/10/2020 4:13:01 AM PST by Cronos
Here are six highlights and lowlights of the negotiations and what they mean now, as the negotiations reach their conclusion.
Principle #1: Build strong relationships ahead of time. During negotiations, understand what your counterpart cares about.... First, the UK government should have formed durable alliances in Europe much earlier; this kind of advance relationship building is one key to successful negotiations. The last-minute shuttle diplomacy proved to be too little, too late. Second, the EU failed to put itself in the UK’s shoes (another negotiation principle). Had they been even somewhat flexible over freedom of movement, they might have been able to keep one of Europe’s largest and most important countries within the EU family.
Principle #2: Pay close attention to process.
Principle #3: Remember the stakeholders who aren’t at the table.
Principle #4: Avoid self-imposed deadlines. ...That was the case with the Withdrawal Agreement, where the UK signed on to a deal that they had to start unravelling just a few months later, and is likely to be the case with the future trade relationship, which has ridiculously tight deadlines.
Principle #5: Behave like a trusted partner – or pay the price.
Principle #6: Don’t let political pressure get in the way of pragmatic solutions. The fisheries industry won’t thank me for saying this, but it currently contributes only 0.1% to the UK economy and a similarly low figure across Europe. Compare this to services (over 75%) and manufacturing and production (21%) in the UK. Yet it’s quite possible that a future trade deal could collapse over fisheries.
(Excerpt) Read more at hbr.org ...
Isn’t this all just a stall until the US election is decided?
Another rule for Brexit: intend to get what you want (ie, leaving the EU), don’t use negotiations merely as an excuse to indefinitely stall that result.
Nope. It might have been before November, but BoJo has already congratulated Biden on his “win”.
True - the Brits didn’t KNOW what they wanted - there were too many conflicting opinions before they started negotiations.
They should have had a follow-up referendum saying
“Ok, the people wanted Brexit and that’s happening, now WHAT kind of relationship do you want with the EU? Here are your options
1.....
2....
“
But they didn’t.
ultimately the UK did leave on 31 January 2020, but they still don’t know what kind of relationship they want with the EU.
This is all about Trump.
These lessons assume that the people negotiating actually want what they are negotiating over. Most of the UK side negotiating under Mrs. May and now Boris Johnson has been against Brexit, and the EU side wants to punish the Brexiteers for having the temerity to challenge them all these years let alone voting to leave.
It’s not about Trump. Remember that the Brits voted in the non-binding referendum in July 2016.
The reasons for this was varied, but a closer relationship with the USA was held by only some of the pro-Leave.
Every country has its own dynamics
BoJo was the guy who spearheaded Brexit
The EU side wants to punish the Brexiteers -- err.. how? They are looking for their advantage while keeping the 4 Freedoms that are their foundation intact. How do you see the EU trying to "punish" the UK?
If BeezleBiteMe gets in, Brexit is dead.
That makes Brexit all about Trump.
Trump is the only thing standing in the way of the EU.
I see the EU trying to extract tribute from the UK and keep it subject to EU dictates without representation. That's punishment.
Too many of those in power opposed BRexit to begin with and didn’t want to implement it or secure a good deal for the Britons.
>> the EU side wants to punish the Brexiteers for having the temerity to challenge them all these years let alone voting to leave.
They want to give a warning to those other nations that are thinking of leaving the EUSSR
Boris was a pro-European remainer until he was handed the opportunity to embarrass David Cameron and use Brexit as a launchpad for his bid to lead the Conservative Party.
Leave won, and Boris had no idea what to do about that... But he still wanted to be Prime Minister.
He backed himself into a corner with too many contradictions. Frictionless trade will continue, but without any guarantee of continued alignment to the EU standards that the UK hadn’t just followed but frequently helped to draft over 40 years being one example.
You can’t find a single brexiteer who would buy unsafe electronics from China but the CE scheme that guarantees that safety is on the bin list because Boris won’t commit to keeping it.
It ain’t surprising that Boris hid in a fridge to avoid answering questions about things like that...
What tribute??
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