The United Kingdom and the European Union must choose the prosperity of politics

Digest opened free editor

Rola Khaleda, FT editor, chooses her favorite stories in this weekly newsletter.

The writer is CBI CEO, Employers Organization

Since the ghost of protectionism casts a shadow over the global economy, it is now a moment to leave the old arguments behind it. Instead, we must take action. The leaders are currently preparing for the European Union summit next week. Marcus Berler, General Manager of Businessurope, and I, is supported by the power of companies of 25 million companies we are talking about throughout Europe, and invited them to choose prosperity for politics.

This is the first time that the Central Bank of Iraq has gathered, and it is the vote of leading business in the United Kingdom, and Businessurope, which represents more than 40 European union (we one), to determine the priorities of the work of the strategic partnership in the European Union. in Official message To the UK Prime Minister Sir Kerr Starmer and European Commission President Ursula von der Lin, we have set the concrete steps necessary to improve this decisive relationship.

With the war on the doorstep of our door in Europe, coordinated work and cooperation with defensive and industrial capabilities is a priority. However, the union against common threats cannot be the ceiling of our ambition; The renewal of the economic relationship in the United Kingdom should not be left to “any other business” on the agenda.

Business has no desire to reformulate the British exit referendum from the European Union, and it does not trample on negotiators of the red lines that he has already identified. Both sides bring luggage to the table. But we cannot afford the legacy of the past decade to determine the next future – this summit must make decisive progress.

The European Union and the United Kingdom participate in the North Sea and align the net zero ambitions. Cooperation between energy between them can provide energy safety, flexible economy and low carbon. The Trade and Cooperation Agreement in the European Union and the United States of America is committed to “a serious awareness of the connection of relevant carbon pricing systems.” But progress was slow ice.

With all of our emissions trading plans that exceed free suits, this is the moment to link them, to create a deeper, more liquid and effective market. The mutual exemption of the mechanisms of modifying our carbon borders would prevent the new commercial barriers that hinder electricity imports and stop the joint network projects in the North Sea. The goal of the clean energy in the UK nor the biological electrical needs of the European Union can be met without it.

Mobility has become excessively politicized and risks our contempt for recession. But people traveling across the border are completely different from permanent migration if they do this to provide services, which represent 48 percent of our total bilateral trade. Everyone wants our power services sector to flourish and grow. This is not cake, it’s pragmatism. Both sides need to focus on achieving this, whether by strengthening commercial travel in the short term or by mutual recognition of professional qualifications.

The UK left that the European Union’s organizational and customary systems have left companies on both sides of the channel with their Brexit Red tape to deal with it. For those who have higher costs, the failure to make progress now will be a lost opportunity to create an environment in which companies flourish.

Reducing these costs does not require the re -introduction of the customs union. The Vegetable and Veterinary Health and Health Agreement supports agricultural and food products that move with less friction across the border, but without prejudice to high standards of food safety and animal health. Such an agreement would reduce the flow of trade between Britain, the mainland and Northern Ireland. Admitting to test each other and issuing certificates also reducing barriers that prevent trade in goods. The European Union has already has such agreements with the United States, Canada and several other countries, so why not the United Kingdom?

None of this will be violated on political red lines in London or Brussels. This is a pragmatic to cancel prosperity – the type of leadership and vision that companies on both sides of the channel want to see from the summit next week.