While the commercial negotiations are still open, the employers highlight the greater uncertainty caused by the new tax regulation to sell in the United Kingdom
The departure of the United Kingdom from the European Union is already a fact, although there are still many details to be known, especially in the commercial area, where negotiations on future relations between the British and the EU continue. This absence of a definitive regulatory framework for foreign trade and the time that has passed since the United Kingdom announced its intention to leave the Union have meant that local and provincial companies with commercial interests in the United Kingdom could prepare their adaptation to the new scenario.
"We are not having a greater number of consultations over Brexit these weeks", explained Esteban Villanueva, secretary of the Albacete Chamber of Commerce and Industry, an entity that is preparing a monographic conference on this issue. Nor have they noticed an increase in inquiries in the area of Internationalization of the Confederation of Entrepreneurs FEDA, explained to The Tribune its manager, Évelin Molano: «In three years of negotiations so that there would not be a Brexit without an agreement, we have advised preparing the ground, because of course there are changes, although much remains to be defined yet, we do not know if there will be free trade, if the United Kingdom will be considered a third country … What we have advised, together with the Tax Agency, was to get ahead of the entire tax issue, which is the one that can squeeze companies the most ».
<. Molano said that it is in this matter "where most of the uncertainty lies", but the Tax Agency has already given guidelines that are valid for the moment, although "This may or may not change, depending on what ends up happening between now and the end of the year". The Internationalization technician said that the United Kingdom is a market "relevant" for Spanish companies, because exports of goods and services there are important, and it is "interesting" also for Castilla-La Mancha, although in figures it is less so for Albacete, which does not have large export or import figures with the United Kingdom. In recent years, in any case, sales from the province to the United Kingdom have increased, and if exports in 2015 remained at 36 million euros, in 2018 they were close to 55 million. In 2019, with the month of December to be computed, 50 million euros had been exported from Albacete to the United Kingdom, less than five percent of all turnover. Imports, at the same time, did not reach 19 million.
The new political scenario in the United Kingdom also affects the 570 Albacetes who officially reside in the country that is leaving the European Union. Starting this month, all EU residents and their families in the United Kingdom must apply for a residence permit, which will be granted with an indefinite term for those who reside there for more than five years, and limited for the rest.
Fountain La Tribuna de Albacete
