What happens if the euro splits

But challenges are possible in each other's courts, and punitive measures may be taken if subsidies distort trade.

And for service industries — highly important to the UK — further uncertainty beckons, as the deal contains only vague commitments. Financial services are not covered at all, to be dealt with by a separate process.

Beyond trade, scientific cooperation will continue with the UK still a paying member of the EU's Horizon Europe programme for seven years. It will also remain in Copernicus and Euratom. There will still be cross-border police investigations and law enforcement. The trade deal brought a five-and-a-half-year transition period on fisheries. During that time, EU access to UK waters will be cut by a quarter, and British quotas will be increased.

Annual negotiations will then take place, but the EU can take retaliatory action if access is further reduced. And the UK, which sells most of its fish into the EU, is likely to continue to need the European market. Although a part of the UK, Northern Ireland nonetheless begins implementing new border formalities with Great Britain in order to keep an open land border with the Irish Republic, an EU member.

In December, an agreement was struck between the UK and the EU on implementing the complicated arrangements contained in the divorce deal that sealed the UK's exit from the bloc. Denmark is a different issue.

As for Poland, Denmark is quite opposed to the Nord Stream 2 project. On 19 October, five opposition parties in the Danish parliament called on the government to veto the project. The Danishes are currently debating a law that could give the government powers to reject large infrastructure projects e.

Therefore, the pipeline concerned should apply for another construction permit with a route crossing Denmark economic zone but not its territorial waters. The demand for this permit implies more administrative work and therefore time; it would delay pipelines constructions. In summer , the polish authority for competition opposed Nord Stream 2 pipeline because it would give Gazprom a dominant position over their national market and thus reduce the competition.

Since then, Poland has been calling to oppose the project. Whether and how this clash, crystallized in the quarrel between Germany and Italy, gets resolved in the coming weeks is likely to determine the long-term viability of the entire European project—including the future of the common currency. If unresolved, that fight will continue to poison EU politics. You may change your billing preferences at any time in the Customer Center or call Customer Service.

You will be notified in advance of any changes in rate or terms. It is at risk of an economic depression on top of a humanitarian catastrophe. The eurozone now risks repeating the same mistakes that were made just over a decade ago. The timid and delayed responses of the European national governments at the height of the last crisis have cost the economy dearly. Policy actions were typically taken only when the house was already on fire.

And when the ECB intervened to buy time, the extra time was often wasted in European capitals. A similar dynamic was visible last week.

After some initial wobbles in its response to the crisis, the ECB announced a dramatic new programme of asset purchases to stabilise European markets. Yet the reaction in European capitals was predictable: once the markets were calmed, and bond spreads narrowed between countries, the perceived need for joint fiscal action evaporated.

Each country turned its attention back to national rescue packages. Europe needs a joint fiscal response to the Covid crisis. All countries in the currency union must be able to do whatever is necessary to respond to the public health catastrophe. Two different options are on the table. The best solution would the joint issue of one-off bonds with long maturities. The creation of such eurobonds would send a strong signal of solidarity in the face of a crisis for which no nation can be blamed.