Brexit Metaphor No 63
The EU protects its member states like the Earth's magnetic field protects the planet from the high-energy charged particles in solar wind and cosmic rays. The EU achieves this by placing foreign trade, competition policy and various other economic and financial regulations under the exclusive jurisdiction of the European Commission and the European Court of Justice. Thus, if China, Russia or the USA try to escalate a conflict over economic issues with a certain EU member state, they face the united front of the EU-wide Customs Union and Single Market.
If Britain leaves the EU, it will have to face foreign powers on its own, at least in economic matters if not in foreign policy and security. For example, Russian President Vladimir Putin advised the British Prime Minister to implement the 2016 referendum result in a televised news conference on December 20.
Foreign countries can meddle in domestic politics when there is no magnetic field to stop them: this is what the British would call to be "left out in the rain".
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| Earth's magnetic field (Source: Wikipedia) |
Notes:
1. Timeline: This article is part of a daily #BrexitMetaphors series, with 98 more Brexit Metaphors to follow until Brexit day, March 29, 2019.
2. Disclosure: The author has a master's degree in European Integration.
3. Invitation: If you'd like to contribute to the debate, you are welcome to leave a comment below.
The EEC/EU served as an early simulator of globalisation in the 1970s and 1980s. And then Globalisation proper arrived from the 1990s and blew the doors off. Paradoxically, the EU is now a useful protector from Globalisation (e.g. from China's increased bargaining power).
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