Brexit. UK pop, the big loser in the 'Brexit' agreements
Elton John has decided to take the lead against Brexit.
At 73 years old, the author of
Rocket Man
and
Candle in the wind
has given his chest in a letter published in
The Guardian
in which he accuses the Government of
Boris Johnson
of having closed the doors of Europe to British musicians.
“Either the Brexit negotiators don't care about the musicians, or they haven't thought about them, or they weren't sufficiently prepared.
They have screwed up ... And ultimately, it is the Government that has to
They have to figure this out: they have to go back and renegotiate, "he says. John's very personal letter, in which he recounts his baptism of fire at the Top Ten Club in Hamburg (" Where the Beatles got tanned ") or when hot dogs rained on him in the Paris stages has had a great impact on British public opinion.
One hundred top musicians
-Dua Lipa, Ed Sheeran, Liam Gallagher or Sting-
a few days ago they addressed an open letter to the British Government.
Meanwhile more than 280,000 signatures supported a petition that reached Parliament on Monday, demanding a solution to the unforgivable neglect of music in the Brexit score. “As a result of leaving the EU, British musicians who want to play in Europe need now a visa, a work permit and a license for their instruments and equipment in each country they visit, ”Elton John warns.
“It is a bureaucratic nightmare that greatly increases the cost of any tour.
My tours can absorb these costs
But I don't want to live in a world where only a certain class of artists can afford to go on tour, ”Elton says.
'The Brexit rules are threatening the next generation of British stars.
Touring Europe is a way to be influenced, to understand audiences and to meet new musicians.
As a result, you are a better artist. ”Elton John pulls his hair and raises his glasses thinking about how the British government broke its arm over the fishing industry and how it marginalized the music industry, which makes five times more money ... “The situation we are in is ridiculous.
Music is one of our great exports.
It is an industry that moves 5,800 million pounds (6,500 million euros) a year and yet they have left us on the sidelines of trade negotiations. "In 2018, Elton John already fired notoriously against Brexit:" The British have been promised something completely ridiculous and financially unfeasible, "he said.
A year later, during a concert in Verona, he proclaimed:
"I am European, and not a stupid English, colonialist, imperialist and idiot."
From the beginning of the year, Elton turned up the volume until he became a spokesperson for the industry and a valid interlocutor with Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden, who blames Brussels: “All this could have been resolved if the EU had matched the offer that we have unilaterally made the Europeans. "" The United Kingdom has chosen to be out of freedom of movement and has even renounced a chapter on mobility within the agreement, "replied a spokesman for the European Commission.
"These decisions mean that travel between the UK and the EU - even for commercial purposes - is not as easy as when it was a member state."
The complications go even further than the need for a visa for each of the 27 countries and occasionally even a work permit.
The news
cabotage rules
they require British trucks to only be able to make two stops within EU territory before returning home, which would make a full European tour impossible.
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