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“We have no choice,” the secretary general of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said in an interview with the Guardian at the World Economic Forum in Davos. “We have to take action and make it as smooth as possible.”
Gurría said Britain would retain close links with the EU despite the vote to leave in June 2016. “There is a nearness and a closeness, 40 years of living as part of the same family. That doesn’t disappear with the stroke of a pen or because of a referendum.”
The OECD secretary general said his strong support for the UK to remain in the EU had been to no avail. But he said Britain needed to retain close links with the other 27 EU member states to minimise disruption.
“I was strongly against Brexit. I speechified against Brexit. I said a vote to leave would be a Brexit tax. I couldn’t think of anything stronger than that. I have family who are British citizens and who want to be citizens of the world and citizens of the EU,” he said.
“But we didn’t win. It was decided upon, voted on, confirmed by parliament. What we have to do now is make Brexit as least costly and as least disruptive as possible.”
Gurría said the UK’s history and geography meant it would always be an important trading partner of the EU and played down suggestions that Brexit would affect London’s position as one of the world’s three big financial centres. “The City of London is always going to be there and will continue to be important,” he said. [...]