Breaking down Brexit
The chaos that is British politics may seem a world away, but a variety of speakers are set to explain how the often-baffling Brexit issues relate to New Zealand.
Massey University is putting on two public lectures in Palmerston North about Brexit issues.
The sessions, titled Free Trade in the Time of Brexit, will feature European ambassador to New Zealand Bernard Savage, British High Commission trade policy first secretary Colin Leeman, and Massey lecturer Dr Jeff Mcneill.
Mcneill said the lectures should help people understand more about the European Union, the EU and British perspectives on trade with New Zealand, and Brexit’s implication on New Zealand agriculture.
While Brexit was set to take place in October, the EU and New Zealand were in advanced stages of working out a free trade agreement.
The agreement would open up more trade between New Zealand and the EU, while economists were figuring out the likely consequences of current British Prime Minister Boris Johnston’s plan to deliver Brexit without a customs agreement with the EU if a deal could not be struck, Mcneill said.
‘‘Both actions appear to many people as distant events, half a world away. But, if they come off, they will have significant implications for New Zealand’s economy generally, and particularly for our agricultural sector.’’
The EU was a mystery to a lot of people, as it was a unique ‘‘supernational’’ government able to make rules affecting more than 500 million people in 28 countries, he said.
It was the only European authority able to negotiate free trade agreements, which was part of Britain’s desire to leave, he said.
‘‘Despite providing freedom of movement for its people, goods and services, and significant financial support for European agriculture, environment and culture, the EU is widely seen as a bloated grey bureaucracy centred in Brussels, Belgium – ‘the capital of Europe’,’’ Mcneill said.
The first lecture takes place on Wednesday in the Palmerston North City Library from 5pm, focusing in agriculture and the EU.
The second lecture, on September 25 at The Globe, will focus on Brexit’s impact on New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the EU.
Both lectures are free and questions from the public will be taken.