Press

Two key factors have stood in the way of the development of a single market for telecoms, Zach Meyers, a research fellow at the Centre for European Reform told EURACTIV.“One of those things is the spectrum markets, which are still national, which means that it’s very difficult for companies to kind of coordinate a rollout of a mobile network across different countries at the same time”, he said, adding that “different land access regimes are also a real problem, but obviously politically extremely difficult to fix.”

The Centre for European Reform says the introduction of the points-based immigration system post-Brexit has led to a net gain of workers in healthcare, education and ICT, which they consider more-skilled sectors. This suggests Brexit could have contributed to innovation where skilled migration is concerned. However, the study also said Brexit has contributed to an overall worker shortfall of 333,000, meaning total economic output has been reduced.

La cohésion et les dynamiques internes de ce «clan» ont été altérés par les différentes élections nationales, et par la guerre en Ukraine, explique Sander Tordoir, du Centre for European Reform : «Jusqu’à la pandémie, la ligue des frugaux, menée par les Pays-Bas, était le camp du ‘non’ rigide sur les questions budgétaires, avec l’Allemagne qui faisait office de force modératrice.

Thankfully, we did not have the hardest Brexit possible, so that figure (the equivalent would be £50bn a year) came down a bit – which makes the £40bn annually that John Springford, deputy director at the Centre for European Reform, calculates is the ongoing Brexit deficit feel about right.

«Ces concessions envers les frugaux, emmenés par l’Allemagne, vont se heurter à une vive opposition non seulement à Paris, mais aussi à Rome et à Madrid par exemple, pose Sander Tordoir, du Centre for European Reform. Ces pays ont été trop passifs ces dernières semaines, en laissant la Commission esseulée face aux récriminations de Berlin. Ils vont désormais devoir trouver un moyen de contre-attaquer à la table des ministres des Finances», estime cet économiste.

There were many promises made in the run-up to the 2016 Brexit referendum. For example, the public was told that the £350 million the UK was sending to the EU every week could fund the NHS instead. In December, the Centre for European Reform said that Brexit reduced Britain’s GDP by 5.5% by the second quarter of 2022 which, in turn, has seen a squeeze on public services, including the NHS.