Rick Weddle: Welcome to “Site Selection Matters,” where we take a closer look at the art and science of site selection decision-making. I’m your host, Rick Weddle, president the Site Selectors Guild. In each episode, we introduce you to top leaders in the world of corporate site selection and economic development. We speak with members of the Guild, our economic development partners, and corporate decision-makers to provide you with deep insight into the best and next practices in our profession.

In this episode, we have as our guest, Elias van Herwaarden, principle with Locationperspectives. In this capacity, Elias assists companies in building and restructuring their business internationally. This includes a wide range of services and location selection, footprint optimization, and globalization [inaudible 00:00:48] helping companies successfully adapt their products and services to local markets. Today Elias will talk with us about Brexit, and what it means, and what we can expect in the coming year. Join me as we welcome Elias van Herwaarden to “Site Selection Matters.”

Elias, almost three and a half years after the cliffhanger June 2016 Brexit referendum, the British people overwhelmingly voted in favor of Prime Minister Johnson’s plan to take the UK out of the European Union by 2021. Before we get into the details of that, and what comes next, however, why don’t you take a minute or two and explain to our listeners just what Brexit is?

Elias van Herwaarden: Thanks for the question, Rick. If I knew I’d be really different from all the other Europeans, be they British or Continentals. Because the only thing we do know is that the UK population voted to leave the European Union and that process is called Brexit. But what it will entail for all of us, we just don’t know. The decision has been made finally after long and very difficult years, but what it means to business will all be decided, God willing, between now and December 31. Because December 31, Rick, that’s the date when the UK Prime Minister Johnson said we will leave the European Union. But the terms of that, and so the terms of what Brexit actually means, have yet to be [inaudible 00:02:30] negotiated.

Rick: That’s really interesting. You know, Elias, I’ve often said that business can deal with just about anything but uncertainty. And it sounds like you’re suggesting or that it’s obvious that we have before us a full year runway of uncertainty.

Elias: I wish it were different, Rick, but I’m afraid your conclusion is just right. I mean, for the last three years businesses globally, and particularly Europe have been worried about well are we going to have Brexit? And what is it going to look like? Well, we passed the first hurdle, we know we’re going to have Brexit that is absolutely a done deal. There’s no doubt about it. But now the second doubt emerges, what is it going to look like? And will there be a lot of uncertainty? Absolutely, yes. Absolutely, yes. I mean, there has been a deal proposed by Prime Minister May and that deal has kind of been enforced to a certain extent by the current Prime Minister Johnson, but the details of the deal are still going to be negotiated, God willing, over the next 12 months. But even on that next 12 months, I mean, I know we’re looking for certainty as business people, but today already the EU High Commissioner, the president of the EU, European Union, Ursula von der Leyen, said, well, we may need to extend the December 31 deadline. And she didn’t do that for fun. She didn’t do that out of p