Web Summit, Lisbon.
Brexit French negotiator Michael Barnier and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair spoke at the Web Summit. The opinion was unanimous: Brexit “is not the answer to anything”.
Tony Blair was clear: “The problem with Brexit is that it’s no answer to anything,” and a second referendum “is still possible,”. The statements came on one of Web Summit’s backstages during the afternoon of Tuesday. For the former British Prime Minister, the problems of the United Kingdom will not be solved by leaving the European Union: “Instead of focusing on the real problems, we are only discussing Brexit. And when we finish this unfinished saga, everything will be the same, ”he said.
Hours earlier, on the main stage, Michael Barnier, who is head of the European Union for Brexit negotiations, had reiterated the same idea: “The story does not end here,” he warned.
Barnier, who has always opted for the speech that Brexit will actually come to fruition by agreeing, was more restrained than Tony Blair in the words. “Solving any question in your personal or professional life is easier when you look at it in perspective, when you look beyond the horizon. I did that from the first day of my mission: look beyond Brexit, ”said the head of negotiations.
Brexit is not just about a divorce between the EU and the UK. There are so many other consequences: It is also building a new partnership with the UK, a new partnership that benefits citizens working within and with the UK, a new partnership for the stability of our continent, ”said Barnier.
Michel Barnier says that in the Brexit negotiations, “citizens have always been our priority and we want to protect their rights for life.” As the stage is a technology conference, he spoke of concerns about personal data: “ We want to know what happens to data from a person in a European Union country and go to a British website to make a purchase. This data must be protected . ”
On the deal that is on the table with the UK, Michel Bernier has assured that it will give “business time to adapt by 2020”. Moreover, on the Northern Ireland issue – “where Brexit creates the biggest risks and problems” – said: “Here we don’t talk about economics and trading, we talk about people. The stability And this is all recent in this region, ”he said.
Blair, on the smaller stage, continued the same line of thought, but more closely. In an analysis of the leading country, he showed that in the United Kingdom the political situation is the opposite of that of Portugal: “The left must have a new political agenda. We have to explain to people how the world is changing, make sense of those changes and make them as beneficial to everyone as possible. ” All because a Europe that can stand up to the US and China, as Barnier said, can only exist if all states are together.
In the end, Blair called for another referendum that he believes is “still possible.” Even if the position of the British was to leave the EU again, at least it was soon leaving, defended the politician. Most importantly said, is this matter to be resolved.
The Web Summit officially kicked off late Monday and will run until November 7. This Tuesday, Altice Arena’s main stage was named after Brittany Kaiser (former analyst at Cambridge Analytica) and Rohit Prasad (the “father” of Alexa at Amazon). This Wednesday, it is Blair who takes the stage, the same day that António Costa, Prime Minister of Portugal, also does.
