Brexit negotiations in the home straight - no return to business as usual

In June, the EU and the UK announced that the Brexit transition period that started in January would not be extended beyond this year. Despite the challenges posed by the interest rate pandemic and the slowdown in negotiations, the two sides are doing their best to reach an agreement on the future of economic cooperation before the end of the year. For Finland and other EU member states, however, the situation is far from ideal, with two rigid parties at the negotiating table who are reluctant to budge on their principles.

While a new economic agreement is still possible for the time being, it is beginning to look likely that the new EU-UK cooperation starting in January will not include cooperation on foreign or security policy. Despite the EU's wishes, the UK seems to have abandoned plans for the desired cooperation on issues such as development aid, economic sanctions and defence cooperation. The UK is therefore trying to prioritise an economic agreement at the expense of other cooperation.

For Finland, the UK is the seventh largest export destination, so a good economic agreement is also important here in the North. And even if major economic setbacks are avoided, there are still a number of question marks over the future of the two countries. Like many Finns, I study in Scotland, and as an EU citizen I am entitled to free tuition fees, free housing, employment and many other benefits of EU cooperation, access to which will become much more difficult at the turn of the year.

How Britain's departure from the Union will affect the wider EU's future remains a mystery. While anti-EU parties are making inroads across Europe, Brexit has shown everyone how deeply the Union has already eroded into the laws and policies of nation states. As Britain, which will remain outside the EU, faces future difficulties, Brexit could become an ode to international cooperation and its achievements, rather than a resurgence of nation states.

The transition period is hardly long enough to agree and compromise on all that is needed. Add to this the ambiguities over the practicalities of the Irish border, and the rising popularity of the independence-seeking SNP in Scotland, and the future does not bring a downward spiral for Boris Johnson. As a Finn living in the UK, I look forward to seeing what the autumn negotiations bring. There is plenty of work to do and no going back to the way things were.

Elmo Torppa

The author is a Blic intern studying international politics in Scotland.