The UK & Europe
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The UK & Europe: The UK & Europe: Costs, Benefits, Options. Options. Benefits, Costs, The UK & Europe: Costs, Benefits, Options. The Regent’s Report 2013 The Report 2013 Regent’s Regent’s University London is one of the UK’s most respected independent universities and one of the most internationally diverse, with around 140 different student nationalities on campus. To order additional copies or download a digital version please visit www.regents.ac.uk/europereport Web www.regents.ac.uk/europereport Email [email protected] Price £25 1 The UK & Europe: Costs, Benefits, Options. The Regent’s Report 2013 © Regent’s University London. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form by any means without permission of the publishers. Published as part of the Institute of Contemporary European Studies at Regent’s University London. ISSN 2040-6059 (paper) ISSN 2040-6517 (online) First published in Great Britain in 2013 as part by Regent’s University London, Regent’s Park, London, NW1 4NS Printed by Belmont Press Typeset in Baskerville / Gill Sans Design by External Relations at Regent’s University London The information in this publication is distributed on an “as is” basis, without warranty. While every precaution has been taken in the preparation, neither the authors nor Regent’s University London shall have any direct liability to any person or organisation with respect to loss or damage caused or allegedly caused by use of the information provided. For more information please contact [email protected] Errata: Any corrections of amendments made after publication can be found at regents.ac.uk/europereport/errata 2 Vice Chancellor’s Foreword I hope that you find this Report informative and illuminating, and that it helps you to contribute to this important debate over the next few years. Aldwyn Cooper 3 Internationalism and global development are at the heart of the mission of Regent’s University London. To operate effectively in any field in today’s world requires an understanding of the complex international relationships that exist between individual countries and the shifting international groupings of economies and political allegiances. We have always attempted to shine a light on key issues for our students and to stimulate debate in the wider community. The University’s annual Jean Monnet and Europe in the World lectures series and our support of both the European Government – Business Relations Council and the Senior European Experts Group, together with the active work of our International Relations researchers, are a few of our activities in this area. We believe that universities should be involved and contribute to “big ideas”. It is probable that a referendum will take place in Britain on continued membership of the European Union. The issue of what sort of Europe we want, the outcome of the referendum and the impact not only on the UK and Europe as a region but on global trade and partnerships is clearly one of the biggest debates with ramifications for every aspect of society from trade to culture, from education to social responsibility. This report has been commissioned by the University as its contribution to the debate and is relevant to many of our students from different countries studying international relations and business. We have striven to maintain the necessary academic neutrality in assessing the issues and I am extremely grateful to all the experts who have given their time and knowledge freely in the Report’s preparation. It is, we believe, so far the only independent, wide ranging, professional and non-political contribution to the debate produced by a university. Students from a number of countries studying here helped research it, assisting contributors to assemble facts and figures. Contributors are all well qualified and eminent experts or academics in their own fields. The views expressed are their own. This is hopefully the first of a series of Regent’s Reports that will address global issues. Relations between the European Union and its “near abroad” to the East, including Russia, may be a future topic for just such a Regent’s Report. Likewise the relationship between the EU and the United States, or with the BRICS could well be themes for future years. I hope that you find this Report informative, illuminating and that it helps you to contribute to this important debate over the next few years. Professor Aldwyn Cooper Vice Chancellor Regent’s University London 4 Editors’ Preface In more than twenty short essays this Report provides tested evidence and clear analysis, outlining the costs and benefits of a changed status in the relationship between the UK and the European Union for specific sectors of our economy and society. John Drew and Martyn Bond 5 Much of the growing current discussion of the UK’s role in the EU is driven by partisan debate, sometimes based on very selective or no real evidence. At the popular level it often relies on simplistic sound bites and distorted statistics. There appears to be little that is both easily accessible and authoritative about the potential cost of a policy decision that could fundamentally change Britain’s relations with our European neighbours. It is surely necessary to give a sense of background and perspective to the European debate which, as Lord Jenkins famously complained some years ago, tends in Britain to be obsessive without being illuminating. Various Parliamentary Committees have tackled aspects of the issue, notably the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee with its Report in June 2013 on the Future of the European Union: UK Government policy. The report examined the key overarching principles of the Government’s policy for the UK’s place in the EU, principally with respect to the Eurozone. The report also started to explore some of the implications of the Prime Minister’s January 2013 commitment that a Conservative Government, if elected in the 2015 General Election, would hold an ‘in/out’ referendum on the UK’s continued EU membership by the end of 2017. The UK Government has itself commissioned an extensive - and expensive - review of all EU legislation having a bearing on the UK. The first volume of its survey has recently appeared, coordinated by the Foreign Office, and covering foreign policy, the single market, taxation, human health, the health and welfare of animals and food safety as well as development co-operation and humanitarian aid. A further twenty-six assessments are to be published before the end of 2014. As European Voice, the weekly newspaper in Brussels that closely follows EU matters, commented: “The reports, drafted by civil servants, steer clear of any overt political stand-point or conclusion. Such conclusions would have been highly problematic, because the two parties in the coalition government – the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats – are not united in their attitude to the EU.” In addition, the House of Commons Library has published a comprehensive research paper (13/42 July 2013) entitled Leaving the EU, which explores the political context, the legal process of withdrawal, the question of residual vested rights for individuals or businesses, alternatives to membership and the impact of an EU-exit in different policy areas as well as the implications for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. None of these governmental or parliamentary initiatives has as yet received the public attention that they merit. The media, especially at the more popular end of the spectrum, appears content to greet any European news with Pavlovian responses rather than the effort of thinking through what may appear to be new evidence, perhaps for fear of upsetting old prejudices. This state of affairs led Regent’s University London, through its Institute of Contemporary European Studies, its business schools including the European Business School and its international programmes, to try to fill the need for an accessible but also far ranging survey of the European question by commissioning this Regents’ Report on The UK and the EU: Costs, Benefits and Options. In more than twenty short essays this report provides tested evidence and clear analysis, outlining the costs and/ or benefits of a changed status in the relationship between the UK and the European Union for specific sectors of our economy and society. It has been written for the main part by practitioners, many of them distinguished in their fields, with some additional chapters by academics who have a proven track record of publication on their topic. It is an independent report and does not necessarily reflect the views of the University nor of companies and organisations that may be associated with contributors, who have written as individuals, invited by the editors. 6 The Report aims to inform the current debate on the UK and the EU, a debate likely to run with increasing intensity until the next General Election and possibly up to the promised – or threatened - referendum. As editors we hope the report will provide useful background reading for others writing about this issue in political, academic and administrative circles, in particular in the UK. We also hope that it will serve a wider audience in the general public, growing daily more aware of its existential interest in this issue. The broad range and expertise of the contributors has allowed the Report to cover many of the major economic and social sectors affected by any prospective change in the UK’s relationship with the EU. Most contributions situate the issue in the context of the author’s specialism before focusing on the cost and/ or benefits to UK interests of reshaping our relationship with Europe. The contributions supply brief but authoritative statistical evidence as well as informed academic and practitioner analysis.