The impact of Brexit
Wild Europe was on the verge of becoming a foundation with fully-fledged legal status, back in June 2016. Then came the Brexit referendum result.
We have since been evaluating alternative ways forward, and are grateful for the highly positive feedback received during a subsequent consultation exercise.
The Endowment Fund will still be developed to provide sustainable finance for basic core costs, and initial grants have already been arranged for key initiatives.
Equally our objectives and activities will not be altered. The threats and opportunities facing natural ecosystems across the continent remain the same. And we will continue to address our agenda with colleagues in non-EU as well as EU countries.
Our overall message, that Wild Europe now has the capacity to operate as a long-term entity to champion wilderness, remains unchanged.
The one element we will need to address is geographic orientation. We will retain an office in London, but over the next two years we will progressively shift our legal and operational centre of gravity into a country with permanent EU membership.
To this end we are currently talking with a couple of partners, and further proposals will be circulated for agreement in due course.
Our Brexit objectives
Wild Europe’s three objectives in response to Brexit are currently:
- to encourage ongoing EU and European orientation by our associates in the United Kingdom, focused on a major role for cooperation on environmental issues in any negotiated package once Article 50 is triggered
- to seek full retention of the UK’s heritage of EU environmental legislation, resisting any internal “Fitness Check” which could have negative consequences beyond the UK
- to take advantage of new opportunities within the UK that may have wider relevance, for example CAP reform leading to greater emphasis on payment for provision of environmental benefits
Above all, we will continue with development of a core executive team to expand the range and impact of Wild Europe’s activities.