Bilateral Disputes Could Derail Brexit

By Simeon Djankov

Simeon Djankov, nonresident senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, was deputy prime minister and minister of finance of Bulgaria from 2009 to 2013. In this capacity, he represented his country at the Ecofin meetings of finance ministers in Brussels. Prior to his cabinet appointment, Djankov was chief economist of the finance and private sector vice presidency of the World Bank. In his 14 years at the Bank, he worked on regional trade agreements in North Africa, enterprise restructuring and privatization in transition economies, corporate governance in East Asia, and regulatory reforms around the world.

After British snap elections held this Thursday, attention will now turn back to negotiations between the EU and the UK to determine the terms under which Britain will leave the European Union. Headline issues include the so-called “exit fee” that London is being asked to pay Brussels, as well as immigration issues and the status of EU citizens already working in the UK. However, as the recent dispute between Spain and the UK over the status of the British territory of Gibraltar demonstrates, there are also a slew of bilateral disputes between Britain and the remaining 27 EU countries which threaten to complicate exit negotiations. From Gibraltar to the Elgin Marbles, The Cipher Brief’s Fritz Lodge asks Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics and former Bulgarian Minister of Finance, Simeon Djankov, how these outstanding bilateral disputes will affect Britain’s attempt to leave the EU with a favorable agreement.

TCB: Negotiations over the UK’s exit from the European Union are set to begin in earnest on June 19. Those talks will likely focus on the headline issues of Brexit, such as the issue of British payments to the EU budget. However, there are also a number of outstanding bilateral disputes between Britain and EU member countries, which many believe will rise up to complicate Brexit talks as they progress. What are some of the most important such disputes?

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