A sad day…

It is one of the principles of PolicyTracker to be impartial about the subjects we cover. We are not campaigning for the adoption of a particular technology or a particular policy approach. In the blogs we try to add an analytical dimension to the reporting in the newsletter.

But in recent months it has become increasingly difficult to be impartial about Brexit. As a company, most of our business comes from abroad and those based in EU member states are the biggest client group. It felt instinctively wrong to distance ourselves from the EU.

The European Commission are guardians of the world’s biggest single market, making them the world’s most powerful voice in spectrum policy. As an independent newsletter we have fulfilled our duty of making space for a critical assessment of Commission proposals.

However, this should not be interpreted as support for leaving the EU. As a company it is more comfortable for us to criticise Commission policies from within the bloc. Criticism from outside has less authority because it lacks the positivity and good will that comes from a sense of shared endeavour.

Last this week I criticised the Commission’s support for “big Europe” policies while across the EU, public opinion is moving against them. I said they were contributing towards Brexit and we had to assume that the leave camp would be victorious. I wish I had been wrong.

Yesterday we reported the opinion of a senior figure in the mobile industry who made a very similar argument.

My view remains that in general, Brussels has failed to respond to changes in public opinion and that has contributed to the result we saw last night. For example, where is the evidence that the Commission consulted on the questions it included in its recent spectrum policy survey? The respondents were being asked about more harmonisation and additional powers for EU bodies: these questions should have been based on wider consultation with a range of bodies, not just the Commission’s own opinions.

Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, has promised a “wider reflection on the future of our Union” among the 27 member states. Let’s hope the issue of public opinion is taken on board.

As we have previously reported, Brexit is not likely to make a significant difference to UK spectrum policy. There will perhaps be the possibility to be more flexible in areas like 5G bands, but the need to create regional equipment markets will remain a huge driver of harmonisation. But the UK’s international influence is likely to diminish and in a more general sense we have pushed ourselves away from our nearest neighbours. This is something that feels wrong and will have unpredictable “soft power” consequences. And it is a great cause of sadness here at PolicyTracker.