Why Would the EU Want Fragments of a Broken-Up UK?

When embarking on a new relationship, it is always advisable for a suitor to acquire the consent of the intended partner. Or, at the least, a hint of interest. This basic etiquette has been ignored by the leaders of Scotland and Wales, who have announced a plan to break from the United Kingdom and join the European Union. The EU’s response: A resounding silence. The EU is not, however, neutral on Northern Ireland. It says it would fold the country into the Irish Republic, even though doing so would place a large financial burden on the bloc, likely causing consternation among wealthier member countries forced to foot the bill. To Brussels, Irish independence — unlike Scottish or Welsh — means reunification rather than the breakup of a 200-year old union with the UK. Yet despite these doubts, the first ministers of Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland met Monday to pressure the UK government to allow them to hold independence referendums. They signed a memorandum of understanding that states, “we believe the future of our nations belongs in the European Union.” The document is, in part, a flash of ankle to the EU. The countries claim they can work together to create jobs, spread wealth, and tap into “vast resources of renewable energy to bring down bills.” They are a sleeping Celtic giant that has been constrained from rousing itself by the dastardly parliament in Westminster. They go on to explain how the EU could help them. They state that “Brexit has damaged our economies,” and that deeper European relationships would create “greater opportunities for trade, investment, culture and cooperation.” By which, they mean they would like the EU to send them amounts of money equal to, if not more, than those they currently receive as a member of the UK.Scotland this year received $64 billion from Westminster in the form of a direct grant, Wales received $24.5 billion and Northern Ireland received $25.3 billion. The public spending per capita in the three countries is between 12 percent and 19 percent higher per capita than in England, according to the House of Commons library. The Westminster parliament and taxpayers of England underwrite the lives of the citizens of the three countries whose leaders are calling for independence.This might go some way to explain the unrequited nature of their overtures to the EU. The EU already has a majority of member countries that take more money than they contribute, and it is in a more precarious position financially after the UK left and ended its billions of pounds of annual contributions. The EU says that 17 countries receive more from the EU budget than they put in, while ten countries receive less than they contribute. It is no wonder then that when the issue of Scotland joining the EU last came up, the response from the EU was a polite “non.” In 2014 when Scotland last voted on independence, the then-leader of the Scottish Nationalist Party, Alex Salmond, vowed that if Scots voted to leave the UK a free Scotland would join the EU. The European Commission president at the time, José Manuel Barroso, responded that such a move would be “difficult, if not impossible.” Mr. Barroso said a newly independent Scotland would be treated as a “third country,” essentially sent to the back of the line, and raised concerns that admitting it might embolden separatist movements in other member countries. Unspoken was the vast cost of absorbing another “net receiver.”The SNP went on to lose that referendum 55 percent to 45 percent.Then take Wales. The country voted 52 percent to 47 percent to leave the EU in the Brexit election. Like with the SNP, it is not clear why the Welsh nationalist party, Plaid Cymru, now running the government, believes that view has changed.If the EU does end up admitting Northern Ireland, the good citizens of its “net contributor” countries would be forgiven for resenting the costly move. No one should understand that more than President Trump who has railed against the billions of dollars of taxpayers’ money that America used to send aboard by entities such as the United States Agency for International Development, yet who backed Irish unification on Saturday. “United in diversity” is the motto of the EU. That lauded diversity, if it leads to the inclusion any of the three costly Celtic countries, may yet prove to be a source of disunity in the bloc.

Why Would the EU Want Fragments of a Broken-Up UK?

Why Would the EU Want Fragments of a Broken-Up UK?

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