[1andrew1]

The explosive Brexit spat that no one is talking about could slam the UK economy

Boris Johnson has spent decades agitating against the European Union and the last five years battling to free the United Kingdom from the shackles of regulation from Brussels. Now he's in the awkward position of finding himself at the mercy of EU leaders for permission to rejoin an international treaty, or risk devastating Britain's multi-billion-dollar legal services industry.

The agreement in question is called the Lugano Convention, and essentially it establishes the jurisdiction of national courts, guaranteeing the legal recognition and enforcement of a wide range of civil and commercial judgments in cross-border disputes.

...The UK dropped out of the treaty as a consequence of Brexit, and applied to rejoin in April 2020. Yet, while the non-EU signatory states (Iceland, Norway and Switzerland) agreed to its re-admission, to date the European Commission has recommended that the EU deny this request, and said that the bloc was "not in a position" to give its consent to UK accession.

..."It's politically uncomfortable for Johnson that the EU is starting to react to what it sees as our bad behavior," says Anand Menon, professor of international politics at King's College London. "Lots of Brexiteers said from the start of the Brexit process that London taking a hard-line stance wouldn't result in retaliation from Brussels. This is one of the first examples where we are being damaged internationally and the EU holds the keys, and it gives us an idea of how much they think our reputation has changed," he adds.

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/07/28/b...cmd/index.html