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January 18, 2019 www.intellinews.com I Page 5
Toyota, for example, is reportedly considering taking over the Toyota Peugeot Citroën Automo- bile (TPCA) plant in Kolin to boost its production capacities in the EU after Brexit. Brexit may com- plicate the company’s exports of cars produced in the UK exported to Europe, analysts told the Czech News Agency (CNA) in November.
No Frexits, Nexits or Czexits
On the other hand, the domino effect once pro- jected — with a string of Frexits, Nexits and Czex- its and so on following Brexit and leading to an eventual breakup of the EU — has not material- ised, to a large extent probably due to the tortu- ous and as yet incomplete process of the UK’s exit from the union.
“At the political level, Brexit has not fuelled re- sentment towards the UK in CEE capitals or stim- ulated pro-leave movements. Governing parties in Poland and Hungary and Euroskeptics throughout the region may criticize alleged meddling in their sovereignty by officials in Brussels, but they are not prepared to follow London through the exit door,” wrote CEPA’s Janusz Bugajski on January
Uzbekistan takes the UzRoadShow to Berlin
Asian republic into a hermit state with his old school dictatorial tactics and a throttling grip on the largely agrarian economy.
Mirziyoyev has changed all that. In little more than a year the World Bank has Uzbekistan as one of the world’s top 10 most active reformers and there was a buzz in the hall as delegates mingled wearing nametags that identified a host of Germany’s most powerful companies and banks.
It reminded me of Belarus’s first attempt at an international roadshow in November 2008 in London, which I had the pleasure of chairing (the
9. “[O]pinion polls indicate that support for the Union has actually increased during the last year partly because of the political chaos in Britain,” it adds.
The illiberal governments of Poland and Hungary, for example, have both been on collision courses with the EU, especially over the judicial reforms in Poland and migration in Hungary. However, when it came down to it Poland eventually backtracked on a key element of the reform of the judiciary that had the European Commission sue War-
saw in the EU’s top court. Meanwhile, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is seeking to change the bloc from within through his anti-migration alliance with Italy’s Interior Minister Matteo Salvini in the upcoming European parliament elections, rather than envisaging a future for Hungary from outside the bloc.
Further south, both Romania and Bulgaria are keen for deeper integration with the EU, hoping their presidencies of the European Council in the first half of 2018 and 2019 respectively will posi- tion them, despite being among the most recent entrants, closer to the core of the EU.
organizers told me bne IntelliNews was the only western publication that actually covered Bela- rus).
Minsk was on the road to entice foreign investors to come to that small northern republic. The dif- ference was Belarus’s timing was awful. London was reeling from the aftermath of the Lehman Brothers collapse a few weeks earlier and the global financial system was in meltdown. Still, 400 City bankers turned out to hear what the delega- tion from Minsk had to say. Talking to the Ministry of Economy in Minsk six months later, they were bitterly disappointed as there was almost no follow-up.
Bit more luck with timing
The Uzbeks, at least, have had a bit more luck with their timing and the German side has gone