MADRID, 27 Dic. (OTR/PRESS) –
With the mess of some painful Christmas parties, with scattered families, relatives without knowing what to expect, and everyone waiting to see whether or not Felipe VI mentioned his father in the Christmas Eve speech, we have missed the fundamental thing: Europe has won the pulse of London.
There will be no chaos on January 1 and the borders will not be closed for Spanish agricultural products or for fishing. There are many other economic sectors that have also breathed relief because, if the devastating crisis caused by the pandemic, a market like the British one closed tightly, even more companies would have had to close down.
It is not a good deal, but Boris Johnson has had to capitulate in his populist claims when he saw how the border was closed in Dover, and the United Kingdom was at serious risk of shortages, just to stop the contagion of the new strain of the coronavirus which, by the way, is already here: there are four cases detected in Madrid. He is so aware of the situation that he has asked his ministers for help to sell the agreement, because he knows that the ultra-Orthodox sector of his party wanted everything, without giving anything in return. Therefore, let us not be surprised if this week, with which damn 2020 ends, we see and hear a British Cabinet selling a political triumph that they have not yet begun to regret.
The face of the magnificent European negotiator, Michel Barnier, with his thick notebook of the points of the agreement, together with the British official – with a ridiculous Santa Claus hat, more appropriate for a family dinner than for the historical moment – reflected all the tiredness and tiredness of the Brussels delegation.
We are all going to lose out with the breakup, but they, although they will not recognize it, are going to pay an exorbitant price. A mechanism that allows the EU to retaliate if London dares not comply with the agreement or modify or skip one of its points has even been introduced, by European requirement. For example: impose tariffs in just twenty days. Because, if British companies had to pay this tribute for placing their products in the European Union, which was the anticipation of a rough Brexit, the economy of Great Britain would suffer the greatest depression since the fight against the Nazis.
Because, it is not the same that any of the partners lose the potential London market, that a single country, the United Kingdom, is left without being able to sell its products to twenty-seven.
The negotiation, dragged by Johnson’s interests until the last minute, has not even been able to endorse the European Parliament, on demands that the British Government knew were insurmountable, has created in Barnier and in the rest of his team the leathery crust of those who have learned to uphold the principle of “shall not pass” as a motto. And in January, whatever they say, London will not be able to continue its blackmail.
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