How Might Brexit Affect Finland?

Brexit remains one of the most talked-about topics in Europe, with the UK’s decision to leave the EU inciting a lot of debate and bringing up questions that are difficult to answer.

Most of the coverage focuses on Britain’s chances of success when it strikes out alone, devoid of the support and close cooperation it enjoyed as a member state of the union in the past. However, it is equally important to consider how Brexit’s ripples will be felt in other countries and assess the obstacles and opportunities that will be created.

Finland is just one EU nation that will undoubtedly notice changes in the wake of Brexit, but what shape will such shifts take and will it be for the better or the worse?

Influencing Public Opinion

One of the most interesting effects of the Brexit vote in 2016 and the subsequent disasters that have plagued the negotiation process following the triggering of Article 50 is the change in public opinion on the topic of Europe in other member states.

In Finland, for example, those aged under 30 are overwhelmingly in favour of remaining part of the union, with 81 per cent of this age group giving their support in a recent study.

In another report, 70 per cent of all Finnish people questioned said that they believed they had benefited from being EU members. Rather than increasing nationalistic feelings, Brexit seems to have cemented the idea that it is better for Finland to be a small fish in a large school, rather than a lone sprat swimming independently.

Impacting Goods & Services

The UK and Finland have a solid economic relationship today, with the former providing a range of products and services including cars and technology, while the latter splits its offerings between paper, wood, mineral fuels and machinery.

In the event of no Brexit deal being reached before the March 29^th deadline, continuing trade along the same lines might become incredibly difficult.

One area which should avoid the effects is online gambling. Games and slots like Gemix can be played online at Casumo and other UK-licensed sites from a number of European nations, and there is no reason to assume that such services will cease to be available after Brexit.

Gambling in the UK is a widely embraced, albeit heavily regulated industry and should prove robust in the face of any economic upset that is inevitably going to be a short term result of Brexit in any form.

Travel & Work

Membership of the EU affords residents of participating nations the opportunity to easily travel and work in other countries without needing to worry about paying for expensive visas or encounter complications as part of the customs process. While assurances about how this will play out after Brexit have been made by some politicians, a lot is still up in the air about this issue.

What seems virtually guaranteed is that there will be tighter restrictions on who can enter and leave the UK, both as a result of the country’s own imposition of new immigration rules and due to the likelihood that the EU will have its own bureaucratic layer to add to proceedings.

In short, anyone hoping to visit Britain as a tourist may face higher costs getting there, even if the weaker value of the pound will mean that your Euros will go a lot further once converted. Whether Finnish nationals hoping to move to the UK to work will be able to do so with the same ease and freedom as today is unlikely, adding to the overall lack of clarity that makes up the Brexit picture at the moment.