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BREXIT: HERE’S WHAT HAPPENS NEXT
ANYONE IMAGINING THAT the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union on January 31st might mean things will go quiet on the ‘Brexit’ front, they are likely to be disappointed. It looks like 2020 will be just as packed as the past three rollercoaster years.
The fundamental reason for this is that while the UK has left the EU, it has not yet established a new relationship. This year
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Text By Simon Usherwood
(Professor In Politics, University of Surrey)
www.theconversation.com
is a transition period, during which not much changes. The UK will no longer be a member of the European Union but it will continue to adhere to its rules – including on freedom of movement.
During the transition period, the future relationship is supposed to be negotiated. There will be a busy schedule for all involved and a number of pinch points through the year.
FEBRUARY 2020: PRIORITIES AND TIMETABLES The first step in the ‘Brexit’ process involves arranging the negotiating table. This will take place in February, after the official departure. As the transition period gets under way, the Joint Committee of EU and UK officials starts its work to manage the day-to-day practicalities. Meanwhile, both the UK and the EU will be concluding internal discussions about what they want to come next.
A Political Declaration was attached to the ‘Brexit’ Withdrawal Agreement, signed by both sides. This sets out the rough list of what needs to be agreed, with a trade deal occupying most attention.
But there’s a long list of other elements that need to be discussed, including how to make plans for the Irish border and how data will
be shared between the UK and EU after ‘Brexit’. The two sides need to agree on how access to fishing waters will be divided up and whether there will be a deal on financial services – an important pillar of the British economy. They will also need to decide whether the UK will continue to participate in EU funding programmes in areas such as scientific research, despite no longer being a member.
Importantly, this all needs to be covered by an institutional framework, which would include rules about dispute settlement. That could involve an ongoing role for the European Court of Justice – something many hardBrexit supporters oppose.
Both sides will need to fix their own negotiating mandate for each element, as well as, a timetable and a sense of their own priorities. February will be the time to do it.
To settle everything in the time available will be an exceptionally tall order, so this is where we will see the first tensions. Will one side want to settle a particular element, such as fisheries, first and the other something different? That will become particularly difficult if either the UK or the EU tries to link progress in one area to progress in another, for example by saying they won’t move on to talk about financial services until the question of data sharing has been resolved.
MARCH 2020: NEGOTIATIONS BEGIN March brings the start of formal negotiations, when all of these issues will come to a head. This will be the moment at which we will get more means allowing much of the agreement to come into effect, while the ratification by both sides trundles on in the background.
of a sense of what is hot air and what is to be negotiated. For the EU, this might highlight any internal differences of opinion between member states, while Prime Minister Boris Johnson might find out how much room his MPs will give him.
SUMMER 2020: TO EXTEND OR NOT TO EXTEND? By the end of June, we will have had the first major dilemma: whether to extend the transition period or not. The withdrawal agreement includes the option to extend the negotiation period for one or two years but that decision must be made by July. Johnson has also already said he does not intend to extend.
DECEMBER 2020: CRUNCH TIME Whether or not Johnson sticks to that pledge matters deeply; if there is no extension, then the rest of 2020 will become a race to conclude as much of an agreement as possible before the December 31st deadline. Given the Christmas break, that means getting to a text by mid-December, so that it can begin a provisional implementation. This Since this truncated timeline makes it harder to reach a comprehensive relationship, businesses and citizens will have to think about preparing themselves for a marked change of circumstances at the year’s end. In the worst case, with no agreement at all, that might look a lot like the no-deal scenarios that were much-discussed in 2019. Only Northern Ireland will have a cushion.
ON TO 2021 OR EVEN 2022? If there is an extension – which could be up to the end of 2022 – the second half of 2020 will be much more relaxed and the potential for a wide-reaching agreement more likely too. But this is not without its dangers.
The UK will then still be tied into the EU budget for 2021, when a new financial cycle begins, probably producing a marked increase in net contributions. There will, therefore, have to be a decision over whether the UK continues to pay into the budget and, if so, how much.
December is also the time for the annual review of fishing quotas, which the UK will have to abide by, but without a vote at the table. And more generally, the longer the UK remains in transition, the greater the chance that it has to implement a decision made by the EU that it would prefer not to do.
Either way, New Year’s Day 2021 is unlikely to mark the end of the Brexit saga.
Visual Arts on the Up!
Over the past few years, I’ve become very impressed by the creative style emanating from our young artists - those as young as 11 or 12 and especially Comprehensive, pre-university students, who are producing fabulous work...Not so young members of our community are coming out of the woodwork also, keeping the art galleries and themselves very busy...
Text by Richard Cartwright
‘VISUAL ARTS’, AMONGST other art forms, comprises painting, sculpture, sketching, photography and film making, most of which are alive and kicking in our community these days especially photography, in addition to painting. Many of us will have noticed the increase in painting exhibitions and art galleries that have sprung up over the years. Quite apart from the talents of our early renowned artists like Bacarisas, Azagury and one or two others, it’s Mario Finlayson (recently passed), who would instantly comes to mind as the forerunner of the many established artists we have today: Vin Mifsud, The Serfaty sisters, Ambrose Avellano, a number of others and lest we forget, Christian Hook, who must be more than an inspiration for our young artists, have really set the subject bubbling over! Mario taught art in school and was continually on the go creating his famous ‘Rooftops,’ spending many hours in his daughter’s dance studio - the Arts Centre - in Prince Edward’s Road. He obviously influenced many youngsters and others to take an interest in the paintbrush, easel or even palate, to while away leisurely Christian Hook
hours engaged in a pleasant pursuit. So for a start, I’m sure our past and present art teachers too, have had an important role to play in really bringing the subject to the fore and instilling the importance of the visual arts in our young people... It has to be said the creation of a separate ministry, as in the Ministry of Culture and in later years the Gibraltar Cultural Services (GCS), have had an important part to play, as has the formation of the Fine Arts Association started in the late 90s, and then moving to the Fine Arts Gallery in Casemates in 2000, essentially linking visual arts to culture, which go hand in hand. Well, we’re clearly producing some talented artists not just on the canvas but in sculpting also. Art teachers and their imaginative charges are taking up the craft and producing some original and wonderful pieces appearing in exhibitions at our local galleries...
Gibraltar Fine Arts Gallery
So where do we exhibit? ‘Galleries’ that’s where! More of these have opened up in recent times allowing artists to display their wares in more locations, encouraging the prolific and even ‘dormant’ ‘painters’ to splash the paint some more! These venues also must’ve influenced interest in the art... In the past, we would make do with holding exhibitions at the John Mackintosh Hall – still used today – The Garrison Library and Mario Finlayson’s Art Centre. In those days, Civil Servant, Manolo Galliano and his small team would look after cultural events. Today, we have the Fine Arts Gallery, the Gibraltar Exhibition of Modern Art (GEMA), the Gustavo Bacarisas Gallery and Arts and Crafts units next door, Mario Finlayson’s National Art Gallery, John Mackintosh Hall and some private ones like the Gibraltar Art Gallery, and smaller ones set up in places like Sacarello’s Coffee Shop and Kasbah. Prizes at annual exhibitions are not to be snuffed at either. The Alwani International Exhibition – great and generous, philanthropic supporters of Gibraltarian cultural events, as is the Parasol Foundation Ambrose Avellano
supporting community projects and we also have the Cultural Services’ Youth Exhibition early in the year, the Spring Festival in May or June, and a big International one round about November when the Ministry of Culture and SDGG come together for the National Identity Exhibition.
So how busy are the Gibraltar Cultural Services and our galleries promoting visual arts exhibitions...? Very busy it seems. There are many individuals employed in the GCS tackling, not just, exhibitions but so much more. At the Fine Arts Gallery they’re fully booked well into the year. First of all, there’s a need to set up and hang all the exhibits. The exhibition would run for a couple of weeks or so and then comes the dismantling. It’s pretty much a three to four weeks commitment for each event I’m told.
Evidently, painting for pleasure is satisfying but can also be financially worthwhile when presenting your work at an exhibition. Paintings - the right ones through the eyes of the beholder – sell: Englishman James Foot visits from time to time and exhibits his works at the Casemates Gallery and elsewhere and by all accounts does very well. The most important point is, as with many things, you have to work with a passion for the subject. Culture is healthy and builds on our national identity making us more enlightened. We now have a very successful Literary Festival, The Philharmonic Society is doing sterling work and in art, we have a vibrant scene especially amongst the young and there are exchanges with San Marino, Ancona in Italy, Berlin, and now Greece. And remember, we already have a creative Gibraltarian painter in the world of graphic arts. The internationally acclaimed artist... Christian Hook!!
M.O. PRODUCTIONS are very busy in organising the 18th edition of the Gibraltar International Dance Festival. The event takes place between Wednesday 19th and Saturday 22nd February 2020 at the John Mackintosh Hall Theatre.
Produced by Seamus Byrne and Alfred Rumbo, the Festival is accredited by the British Federation of Festivals for Music Dance & Speech. 224 dancers from England, Gibraltar and Spain will be taking part in nine sessions of dance. The international festival features the Ministry of Culture as main sponsor. Other supporters of the festival include Argus and Gibtelecom.
The official timetable of the 18th Gibraltar International Dance Festival 2020 is as follows:
WEDNESDAY 19TH FEBRUARY 7pm Session 1 Children and Junior Large Groups Flamenco Duets 9pm Session 2 Duets Adult Large Groups
THURSDAY 20TH FEBRUARY 7pm Session 3 Flamenco Solos Jazz Solos 9pm Session 4 Contemporary Solos
FRIDAY 21ST FEBRUARY 7pm Session 5 Mini Kids Solos Classical Solos Children Acro Solos 9pm Session 6 Junior Acro Solos Tap Solos Show Dance Solos
SATURDAY 23RD FEBRUARY 10am Session 7 Contemporary Improvisations Disco Solos 12 noon Session 8 Stage Improvisations Hip Hop Solos
SATURDAY 23RD FEBRUARY 7.30pm GALA Small Groups Bursary Final
Tickets for the Festival priced at £5 per session and £15 for the Gala Night are on sale as from Friday 7th February 2020 at www.buytickets.gi
