Since Mrs. May has announced her plan to withdraw from the single market and possibly also the customs union, EU countries are trying to reap some advantages of Brexit and allure jobs and investment to the old continent. Major banks with headquarters in London’s financial center – the City – are planning to move their single-market-related operations to Paris or Frankfurt. However, Central European countries are also interested in the financial sector jobs. Poland’s Wroclaw has been wooing big banks for their business, proposing cheaper operations than in Western EU member countries. J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. Executives have recently visited the city pondering to expand their already 2,000-employee team in the country.
Britain’s Supreme Court, however, recently ruled that Prime Minister Theresa May must get approval from the Parliament before she formally initiates the country’s departure from the European Union. The government said that the court’s decision would not delay its plans to kick off Brexit negotiations by the end of March, although some believe that the ruling could complicate things. The opposition Labor Party said it would not try to block Britain’s withdrawal from the EU, but instead it would seek to use the legislative process to have its say on a deal with Brussels.
David Davis, the minister overseeing Brexit, said the government would send legislation proposals to Parliament in the upcoming days. “There can be no going back,” he said and added that “Parliament will rightly scrutinize and debate this legislation, but I trust no one will seek to make it a vehicle for attempts to thwart the will of the people, or frustrate or delay the process of exiting the European Union.”
