Scandinavian member states could repeat BREXIT, an expert warned the bloc.
The UK divorce bill to be paid to the EU amounts to £ 37.3 billion, the Treasury said yesterday, a total that falls short of the EU’s recent estimate. In a statement to Parliament, the Chief Secretary of the Treasury Steve Barclay outlined the estimated Brexit financial deal, which was within the government’s previous forecast range of £ 35-39bn. However, the European Commission has said it expects the final bill to be nearly 41 billion pounds.
The Brexit bill consists of EU spending plans that UK governments signed up to during 47 years of membership, as well as pensions and healthcare costs for senior EU officials, with some of the money going to fund EU programs in the UK they haven’t finished yet.
UK divorce payments to Brussels are expected to continue for decades, so the real Brexit bill will only be known long after today’s politicians have left the stage.
After the UK voted to leave the EU in 2016, experts began to speculate on who might leave the bloc next.
Paolo Dardanelli, Senior Lecturer in Comparative Politics and Acting Director of the Center for Federal Studies at the University of Kent, told CNBC that Denmark and Sweden were the ones to watch.
He said: “Denmark and Sweden would be the ones to watch in particular, as their position would be significantly weakened. “
Mr Dardanelli argued that EU members outside the eurozone, such as Denmark and Sweden, could be further marginalized.
He added that Ireland, a member of the eurozone but also closely linked to the UK, could find itself “in an uncomfortable situation.”
Mr. Dardanelli also said that Germany could find itself “in an even more dominant position” and at the same time lose “a valuable ally on issues such as economic reform, competitiveness, free trade, etc.”
Ultimately, he said that Brexit meant the bloc would be “less competitive” and “more protectionist.”
Sweden and Denmark were closely aligned on a number of issues within the EU.
Swedish politics expert Mikael Sundstrom told this website earlier this year that Sweden “misses” the UK.
He said: “Clearly Sweden misses the UK more than most, because the UK and Sweden were very well aligned on a number of issues.
“Now Sweden doesn’t have that anymore. “Infobarcelona.cat News Summary”.
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