Name? Maroš Šefčovič
Westphalian identity? Slovak
Age? 53
Why is he in the news? After the final round of Brexit negotiations this month, he came out and said that the chances for an extension of the negotiations are at the end. The last chance to extend the negotiation rounds by one or two years is at the end of the month of June. This means that the negotiations will have to come to an end by December; otherwise, the consequence is a hard Brexit.
Why do we care? We know Šefčovič does not favour a hard Brexit (and neither do we, chaos is never a comfortable option) and yet, UK officials proclaim that on January 1st everything’s gonna be alright…?
Why should you care? Because chaos won’t be nice (we have had quite a bit of it in the past few months). And amid pandemics and social movements, a bit of good old British humour can be delightful.
Who else cares? Micheal Grove, who negotiates for the British side, said
“I formally confirmed the UK will not extend the transition period & the moment for extension has now passed. On 1 January 2021, we will take back control and regain our political & economic independence.”
We are just going to leave this statement here, no need for further context or interpretation, as we said, British humour is delightful. Can you hear Šefčovič laughing?
Any further comments? If you are European, just imagine, the UK would be part of the negotiations about Covid-19 stimulus packages inside the EU, a nightmare. But at the same time, that sweet European money could be helpful for a shattered British economy (down by 20%). Fortunately, the UK will have its economic independence back in January. At the same time, if reactions to Covid destroy the British economy, the Brexiteers can claim that a hard Brexit is not so bad after all.
