The UK won’t be the first nation to leave the European Union. Greenland, the largest island in the world, exited in 1982. The tough talks took three years; meaning Britain won’t leave the EU until 2020 at the earliest, warns global delivery expert Fastlane International. From David Jinks MILT – Fastlane’s Head of Consumer Research.
Which island nation joined the European Union (EU) in 1973, was never enthusiastic, and later voted by 52 percent to leave it; setting itself up for years of tough negotiations? No, it’s not the UK, it’s Greenland.
Following a heated referendum, Greenland voted to leave the EU in 1982; but found itself compromising on the key reason behind its vote, following years haggling over exit terms. Grexit Mk 1 is a lesson from history that should not be lost in today’s Brexit negotiations, warns global parcel broker Fastlane International.
Fastlane’s Head of Consumer Research, David Jinks MILT says: ‘The parallels between a nation that joined the EU at the same time the UK did, and voted to leave in the same proportion as UK voters did, are striking.
Greenland’s Chief Negotiator, Lars Vesterbirk, describes the EU talks as “surprisingly unpleasant” and it wasn’t until 1985 that Greenland was finally able to leave.’ Observes David: ‘A possible clue to how Britain’s negotiations will unfold lies with the fact that the main opposition to Greenland leaving the EU (then called the EEC) came from Germany. Greenland’s negotiator has revealed: ‘They were very tough on us, wanting to keep us inside.”
Says David: ‘Britain is scheduled to leave the EU in March 2019, but that deadline looks ambitious indeed if even negotiations with Denmark took longer than this.’ In what could be another teaser of troubles to come, there was a huge political row within Greenland, when the final deal came under attack by a broad part of the population; who thought Greenland had submitted on too many of its key demands on fishing rights.
Says David ‘Replace fisheries with immigration as the key reason for people voting Grexit-1, and Britain could see a similar row. If the Government puts free access to European markets above the populist cause of cutting immigration from EU countries, it won’t be too great a surprise if a similar argument occurs in two years!’
And the result turns out not to have entirely freed Greenland from Brussels’ regulations. On their key reason for voting Leave, fishing rights, Greenland is no longer at the table when fisheries are discussed; but because it sells its fish into the single-market then every EU rule applies to it as much as it does to a full EU member.
