A view on the EU from Austria
This week, I’m on holiday. My family and I are staying just south of Salzburg; it’s my first time in any EU country other than France since Brexit happened. I love Austria and think it’s one of the most underrated countries to visit in the world, particularly with young children. But I’m not turning this into a travel piece.
I feel like here is my cue as a Remainer to talk about how the food is cheaper here, the supermarket shelves are all full and with more varied selections than you now find in post-Brexit Britain, etc, etc. I’m also supposed to speak of queues at customs and the pain of experiencing loss of freedom of movement first-hand. The initial bit there is largely true, the second not so much. Getting into Austria wasn’t that big of a deal, mostly because there aren’t that many Brits holidaying here. Having to wait to get your passport stamped isn’t that much of an imposition when there are four people ahead of you.
Yet talking about these things doesn’t get to the heart of why Brexit was such a terrible idea and how being in the EU recalls that for me. For instance, even though it was easy enough to glide through customs into Austria, I was reminded of my dislike of international borders and the fragility of things like relatively open societies. One of the things that boiled my blood during the post-referendum discussions on what to do about the Irish border problem was certain Brexiters describing the Canada-US border as “open”. It demonstrated the ignorance a great deal of our politicians and even so called public intellectuals have of the greater world.
I grew up near the Canadian-US border and trust me, it is one of the hardest borders going. Crossing it as a Canadian was always daunting (I figured out at one point that it was a lot easier crossing with my British passport, which saved me a lot of hassle from then on). You could be stopped for any reason, given a grilling and then told you couldn’t come in. Even when you got through, you were still banned from working in the US - I wanted at one point in my life to give New York a shot, but at that young an age with no real world experience, I couldn’t get a green card, which meant I could not just go there and see what happened. It felt like there was a whole world on my doorstep, one that looked inviting to the young and adventuresome, that was for the most part off-limits. I just don’t think this is something Brexiters can relate to, sadly, nor that this is what they have inflicted upon young Brits dreaming about working a summer in Paris.
However, they should start to consider it, as harder borders between the UK and the EU are coming. ETIAS, the European Travel System, will enter into play next year. Even though in some ways it should make it easier to get more people through from say, Dover to Calais, it is another step in isolating Britain from the continent of Europe. One more hoop to jump through in order to gain access to something that not all that long ago was your right.
But even if I’m wrong about this - and I stress, I don’t believe that I am - Brexit would still be a bad idea because having trade barriers with all of your closest neighbours is always a bad idea unless what you’re getting in return is substantial. But we know already that it isn’t. Brexiters love the phrases “Global Britain” and the “protectionist EU”, but it is Brexit that has made Britain more protectionist by default and the vaunted “70 trade deals” the Tories go on about as a Brexit benefit are almost all just roll overs of deals we had when we were in the EU. The trade deals with Australia and New Zealand are poor value from a UK perspective and not even in the the same galaxy as being in the single market in terms of opening up trade. The Americans are uninterested in any sort of a trade deal, never mind one which would change the way international trade is conducted.
That’s why the “EU about to fall apart any second” stories are still so popular amongst the parts of the British press wedded to the Brexit faith - without this coming to pass, Brexit will look increasingly ridiculous as the years go on. Having a huge trading bloc on your doorstep but being outside of it is idiotic, unless that trading bloc really is about to splinter into pieces. And I can say that from where I’m standing in Austria, that isn’t happening anytime within your lifetime, however old you are.
The Brexiter argument at this point then tends to go to “sovereignty” - it doesn’t matter what set backs we face outside of the EU, it’s better than being “ruled from Brussels”. But I have a few things to say about this. One is that being inside the EU allowed us to inherit a lot of pretty decent regulatory ways of doing things I have to wonder if the UK would have found a better of way of handling. The proof of this is in how few EU derived laws have been repealed - and it isn’t because of an intrusive civil service or even laziness on the part of the government, but because the stuff that is on the books due to an EU Directive is mostly pretty solid and can’t be greatly improved upon, at least not to any notable economic benefit. This idea that some Valhalla is just around the corner, if only we could “do Brexit right” by chucking a bunch of laws out the window, is complete and utter nonsense, possibly the most fallacious thing associated with the Brexit project (which I realise is saying something).
The other thing about the sovereignty issue is that I don’t actually like the UK government having more power than it used to have and I think this is one of my more centre-right instincts, oddly enough. I genuinely like supranational organisations that hold the usually rubbish British governments - because let’s face it, one of the things that is not great about our great country is the quality of those who tend to govern us - to commitments of necessity. I like that NATO exists. I even like that it takes away national sovereignty a little bit. I like governments being put in their place sometimes. It isn’t to say that national sovereignty isn’t important, it’s just a long way from everything and sometimes, having checks on it is a very good thing. I’ve said this before but it’s always worth repeating: if you disagree, try living in North Korea. There’s a country with complete national sovereignty at work.
I love Britain more than any other country. And here’s the thing about Brexit in relation to that: I really like other European countries, but even if I didn’t like any of them, Brexit would still be a terrible idea. Because the EU isn’t about agreeing with everything France does or thinking that Germany is wonderful. You don’t need that to think that the EU works to its intended purpose, or that Britain would be better off inside of it than outside of it on its periphery. It’s mostly about trading with each other. And when it comes to foreign affairs, we all put our differences aside for the most part anyhow in pursuit of protecting the West from its enemies.
I suppose I didn’t need to come to Austria to figure any of this out. But being away from Britain, particularly to re-enter the European Union, gives one some perspective. I’m having a lovely time here, but even if I was not, it wouldn’t make Brexit any less terrible an idea.
Thanks for reading. I’m heading back to Blighty tomorrow where I’ll be back next week with the worst of Brexit. If you haven’t subscribed already, please go ahead and do so.
NICK!!!!!!!!!!!! IT'S BRENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'M GOING TO SEE CRYPTIC SLAUGHTER TOMORROW NIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Great article. Those claiming or rather hoping the EU is going to collapse any time soon have been saying the same old thing for years. Nothing new to see here.
With some Brexiters ranting, it’s clear they want the EU to fail much more than wanting the UK to succeed.
Because for them, it’s just about ‘winning’ the argument in the way they supposedly won the 2016 referendum. For them to win the argument, the EU has to fail. Not the UK actually doing well or thriving.
This basic Brexiter argument has simply become a battle of survival. A fight to the death between the EU and the UK. And the only way to win is not to actually do better than before. But for the other side to fail. When Brexiters talk of the “EU about to collapse”, they don’t actually believe it. However, they need it to happen to justify their vote.
And even then, it’d not make their views any more valid. Because had the UK still remained in an EU that collapsed, it would hardly have mattered. Because, according to these Brexiters, the UK would be able to thrive on its own anyway! We would not have been affected.