Political and economic turmoil continue in Britain
Brexit give the biggest shock to the EU project. Brexit has not only put question mark on the future of EU but also on the UK. Nicola Sturgen, the first minister of Scotland made it clear that after the Leave victory, the second Scottish referendum has become inevitable. The mood in Scotland is in the favour of independence. The arrangement in Northern Ireland might also be affected. So the future of UK is as uncertain as the future of EU.
Political and economic turmoil
The political and economic turmoil continued as the aftermath of Brexit. The British pound hit hard and went down to the 1985 level, lowest in 31 years. The stock markets around the world lost 2 trillion dollars in the share values. Just one British billionaire Sir Green lost 375 million pounds in a single day. The Bank of England announced to pump 250 billion pounds into the economy to stop the chaos in the markets and the further slide of pound.
The gold jumped 22 percent in pounds terms on Friday. The sale of gold bars and coins increased five times in a single day. The house prices will fall 5 percent nationally and bit more in London. Some economist are talking about a possible recession and long days of lower growth. But the picture will become clear in next couple of weeks.
But the political turmoil will continue for a while. The battle to elect new leader in the Tory party has already begun. The right wing Blairites MPs submitted motion of no confidence against Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn. The battle to remove Corbyn from the leadership is going to intensified in coming days. UKIP leader Nigel Farage emerging as real winner of this referendum.
This panic is not limited to London but Brussels also feeling the heat. The angry EU leaders wanted to start the British exit as early as possible to minimise the damage. But leading Brexit figures in the Conservative Party seems not in hurry to start the process. EU leaders are worried that far right populist parties in some countries will increase the pressure for having similar referendum in their countries. They are worried about France, Denmark and Netherlands. So there is panic and nervousness in EU leadership.
Who is to blame for this chaos
The angry leaders and unelected officials of EU should not look for scapegoats but accept the responsibility for this chaos. They should not blame stupid infighting in Conservative Party or wrong decision of David Cameron to hold this referendum or even British people to vote Leave. The responsibility lies with EU leaders and British ruling class. The angry capitalist leaders of EU are not ready to accept the fact that they themself made EU project so unpopular in the masses. They failed to understand that why people in different countries of Europe are so angry with EU. They have’t been able to fully grasp the anti EU mood of the millions of working class and poor people.
Many people regard EU institutions as bureaucratic, undemocratic and out of control. There is widespread anger against EU on the handling of economic crisis and immigration. EU failed to adopt a common policy to manage the humanitarian crisis of refugees.
The working people see EU as a club of the elite. EU alienated itself from ordinary people. Since the super recession in 2008, EU policies become increasingly unpopular in the working people. The working class see EU as the defender of the big banks, insurance companies and multinational companies. EU put billions of Euros to save financial sector but at the same time did nothing to save the millions of working class people from economic devastation. The neoliberal economic policies and continued austerity made EU unpopular among the working people and poor.
Neoliberal economic policies and austerity
The European ruling class effectively turned EU into a neoliberal project which only interested to serve the big business, capitalist elite and free market economy. The initial dream of European integration, cooperation, single market and free movement of the people turned into a European super state dominated by capitalist elite. Privatisation, austerity, welfare cuts and lower wages becomes the hallmark of the EU. The EU failed to protect the interests of the working class and poor. EU has been pushing the different European countries to make changes in their labour laws to break the strength of organised working class and trade union movement. EU also pushing the governments to further cut the benefits and social spending.
The cruel treatment meted out to Greece people during the financial crisis was’t went very well among the working people throughout continent. The humiliating conditions imposed on the Greece working class and poor further exposed the EU. The Greece government was forced to impose severe cuts on social spendings. The Greece crisis enormously damaged the reputation of EU institution.
All these pro-capitalist policies and measures of the EU made it very unpopular in the sections of the working class and lower middle class.