If Britain’s exit from the European Union, or Brexit, had a mascot, what would it look like?
While Britain pushes on with negotiations for its imminent departure, the Dutch have been ruminating on the answer to a question no one has ever asked.
Brexit, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Netherlands has decided, is a fluffy blue monster with an oversize head, blue eyes, black pants and a white T-shirt emblazoned with the word “Brexit” in red.
The Dutch minister of foreign affairs, Stef Blok, shared a photograph on Twitter on Thursday of him standing in an office with a confused expression and throwing his arms up as the Brexit monster relaxed on a desk in front of him.
The mascot was immediately christened the “Brexit Muppet” by social media users.
The label also drew a wry collective sniff from Britons for whom the term “muppet” is a mild insult.
The blue Brexit monster is apparently the distillation of Dutch fears of the unknown as Britain has spent more than two years negotiating the minutiae of its departure from the European Union and a no-deal exit seems more likely.
The prospect of Britain crashing out of the bloc has alarmed many member states, including the Netherlands.
The monster is part of the Dutch government’s “Brexit Loket,” which roughly translates to Brexit information desk, a hub of business resources to avoid having “Brexit get in your way,” according to the campaign’s tagline.
The Netherlands concluded that the furry monster was the best way to warn its businesses that operate in the United Kingdom about the potential impact of Britain’s departure from the customs union.
“Brexit is not only on the desk of the Dutch minister, but it is something that everybody has to deal with,” said Dirk-Jan Vermeij, spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “It is essential that entrepreneurs prepare for all Brexit scenarios, including no-deal.”
The Brexit monster, as seen on the Dutch Brexit information desk Source: Brexitloket
The Netherlands is clearly trying to allay any concern about how its companies will be affected by Britain’s divorce from the trading bloc: The country is one of Britain’s top trading partners, and the Dutch economy could lose out on 10 billion euros, or $11.3 billion, worth of trade because of Brexit, according to the Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
“In terms of the countries exposed to Brexit, the Netherlands is one of the biggest,” John Springford, deputy director of the Center for European Reform in London, said Thursday by phone.
“No-deal Brexit would be the largest hit, but all of the different scenarios are going to entail some sort of economic cost,” he added.
Despite the warnings the Netherlands issued to its businesses over the possible negative impact of Britain’s departure from the EU, the Dutch are also positioning themselves to benefit from it.
The Dutch government has been selling itself as an alternative for firms based in Britain that are looking to keep their operations in the trading bloc, and it recently boasted that it was in talks with 250 companies about moving.
Britain, for its part, is steeling itself for the loss of some international business as one consequence of Brexit.
In case of a no-deal departure, the British government is preparing for a 9.3 per cent drop in the country’s gross domestic product, food shortages, a dearth of medicines and even power blackouts.
Supporters of Brexit have dismissed such warnings as “scaremongering.”
Though odd, the Brexit monster was a hit on social media, with one person tweeting: “Omg this really is for real. A Brexit Muppet. Lordy I love the Dutch.”
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