Trump's victory a warning shot against globalisation, Sant argues

The election of Donald Trump as US president is proof that globalisation has left too many people behind and will have an impact on the upcoming Brexit negotiations between the EU and the UK, former prime minister and Labour MEP Alfred Sant has argued.

“The Trump phenomenon shows that globalisaiton hasn’t been handled in a good way but has left too many people forgotten and on the side,” he said, using smilar words that Trump had used in his victory speech this week. “This stream of thought is really gathering momentum, and these forgotten people are now hitched to the technology of mass media communiation, which is something that mainstream politicans are very much afraid of . This real political need to deal with the consequences of globalisation must be controlled and managed, and this will be the background to the Brexit negotiations.”

Sant was speaking at a conference on Brexit at the Valletta University, organised ahead of Malta’s stint at the head of the EU presidency.

He warned that the Brexit negotiations will be entirely complex, with EU member states extremely conscious that their decisions could galvanise the far-right parties in their own parties.

“The French socialists are aware that any misstep in their handling of Brexit will affect their internal situation vis-a-vis their handling Front National, while [German Chancellor] Angela Merkel is extremely sensitive to the rise of AfD, and is very conscious that AfD will pounce on anything that Germany gives up to the UK.

“Moreover, the UK is the second most important contributor to the EU’s budget, which will mean that Germany’s contribution will have to increase signficiantly, something that Germany is all too well aware of.”

Sant warned EU leaders not to use Brexit as an opportunity to shift towards a federal EU, which he described as a “very dangerous stance”.

“There is a groundswell of discontent against further indication, and yet the prevalent tone at EU level is how to integrate the union further so as to avoid a second Brexit,” he said. “That is a very dangerous stance – they are putting the cart before the horse when they should be discussing how to consolidate what has already been achieved.”

Former Liberal Democrat MEP Andrew Duff, who used to lead the Union of European Federalists, insisted that there wasn’t a groundswell of public opinion against federalism, but rather a yearning for a better governance of Europe.

Former pro-EU Tory MEP Brendan Donnelly said that the EU’s major problems – related to the Eurozone and migration – can only be solved by a shift towards federalism.

He downplayed the signficance of a Brexit on the EU’s internal dynamics, arguing that its frequent opt-outs over the past decades means that it hasn’t been a major player in the EU’s major decisions. Indeed, he predicted that the UK could well rejoin the EU within the next decade if the EU successively shifts towards federalism.