Brexit raises a key question: What is the point of being an EU country?

The agreement reached in late December 2020 gives the United Kingdom free access to the European Single Market, provided it maintains similar standards in various areas to those in the EU. This agreement raises a key question: what is the point of being an EU country? What advantage will the EU countries have over the United Kingdom? The main benefit of EU membership is the single market, which provides companies with a large domestic market in which to grow and gives Europe significant bargaining power with respect to the rest of the world: the United Kingdom will also benefit from this; Another benefit may be the common policies in important areas (research, space, education, healthcare) and the solidarity policies between the countries, with income transfers to countries in difficulty. Yet the latter benefit is merely embryonic in the EU and the United Kingdom will continue to take part in research programmes. The reality is that: If all countries left the EU, the large single market would disappear, it would be difficult to coordinate common policies and Europe would have much less clout with respect to other countries; But the United Kingdom is going to enjoy most of the benefits of EU membership while retaining autonomy in policymaking (monetary, fiscal, regulatory, even if the latter will be limited). This is yet another illustration of the favourable position of a small country that neighbours a large economic area (the United Kingdom vis-à-vis the EU; Canada or Mexico vis-à-vis the United States; many Asian countries vis-à-vis China).