9 The EU after Brexit: EU-UK relations and the latent crisis of withdrawal
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Simon Usherwood
Abstract
The UK represents an ambiguous object in the EU’s near neighbourhood: simultaneously a major partner, closely aligned on many matters of policy and knowledgeable in how the EU works, and a persistent source of significant difficulties, railing against any stabilisation of a new relationship post-withdrawal. As much as the EU was able to rapidly produce a strong and coherent response to the UK’s decision, and so turn a crisis into something much more manageable, this does not mean that the crisis aspects have been banished for good. Instead, the UK has carved out a new path for other member states, lowering the barriers to future withdrawals and establishing precedents of process and preference that might come to be used against the EU down the line. Moreover, the operationalisation of withdrawal also creates a moral hazard insofar as current member states will recognise that the EU cannot afford to lose another member this way, so increasing the leverage of any state seeking renegotiations of the terms of that membership. In this way, Brexit seems to provide two perspectives on crisis: the lived experience of a seemingly successful defence of core values with its containment and management of the UK, but also a pathway to a future crisis where such success cannot be guaranteed.
Abstract
The UK represents an ambiguous object in the EU’s near neighbourhood: simultaneously a major partner, closely aligned on many matters of policy and knowledgeable in how the EU works, and a persistent source of significant difficulties, railing against any stabilisation of a new relationship post-withdrawal. As much as the EU was able to rapidly produce a strong and coherent response to the UK’s decision, and so turn a crisis into something much more manageable, this does not mean that the crisis aspects have been banished for good. Instead, the UK has carved out a new path for other member states, lowering the barriers to future withdrawals and establishing precedents of process and preference that might come to be used against the EU down the line. Moreover, the operationalisation of withdrawal also creates a moral hazard insofar as current member states will recognise that the EU cannot afford to lose another member this way, so increasing the leverage of any state seeking renegotiations of the terms of that membership. In this way, Brexit seems to provide two perspectives on crisis: the lived experience of a seemingly successful defence of core values with its containment and management of the UK, but also a pathway to a future crisis where such success cannot be guaranteed.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter i
- Table of Contents v
- List of authors ix
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Part I: Contextualising the EU and crises
- 1 Introduction: The EU under strain 1
- 2 Polity attacks and policy failures: The EU polycrisis and integration theory 27
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Part II: The legal and democratic fundaments of the EU
- 3 Crisis-driven EU reforms in and beyond treaty limits: Is it time for a treaty change? 51
- 4 What happened to the idea of ‘Ever Closer Union’? Differentiation as a persistent feature of European integration 77
- 5 The difficulty of upholding the rule of law across the European Union: The case of Poland as an illustration of problems the European Union is facing 95
- 6 Representation in polycrisis: Towards a new research agenda for EU citizens 115
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Part III: The EU in a changing world
- 7 After the deluge: Europe, the European Union and crisis in the world arena 133
- 8 EU enlargement in times of crisis: Strategic enlargement, the conditionality principle and the future of the “Ever-Closer Union” 155
- 9 The EU after Brexit: EU-UK relations and the latent crisis of withdrawal 173
- 10 A strained partnership? A typology of tensions in the EU-US transatlantic relationship 191
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Part IV: European policy fields shaped by crisis
- 11 Consolidating the fortress Europe: Conceptualizations of solidarity in the EU Asylum System governance post-2015 211
- 12 EU Health: From pandemic crisis management to a European Health Union? 233
- 13 Leader or laggard? Diversity and minority rights in a union under strain 253
- 14 The slow-burning climate emergency and the European Green Deal: Prospects and pitfalls in the polycrisis era 275
- 15 European economic governance in times of crisis: Solidarity, responsibility, and legitimacy in EU debt mutualisation 293
- Index 319
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter i
- Table of Contents v
- List of authors ix
-
Part I: Contextualising the EU and crises
- 1 Introduction: The EU under strain 1
- 2 Polity attacks and policy failures: The EU polycrisis and integration theory 27
-
Part II: The legal and democratic fundaments of the EU
- 3 Crisis-driven EU reforms in and beyond treaty limits: Is it time for a treaty change? 51
- 4 What happened to the idea of ‘Ever Closer Union’? Differentiation as a persistent feature of European integration 77
- 5 The difficulty of upholding the rule of law across the European Union: The case of Poland as an illustration of problems the European Union is facing 95
- 6 Representation in polycrisis: Towards a new research agenda for EU citizens 115
-
Part III: The EU in a changing world
- 7 After the deluge: Europe, the European Union and crisis in the world arena 133
- 8 EU enlargement in times of crisis: Strategic enlargement, the conditionality principle and the future of the “Ever-Closer Union” 155
- 9 The EU after Brexit: EU-UK relations and the latent crisis of withdrawal 173
- 10 A strained partnership? A typology of tensions in the EU-US transatlantic relationship 191
-
Part IV: European policy fields shaped by crisis
- 11 Consolidating the fortress Europe: Conceptualizations of solidarity in the EU Asylum System governance post-2015 211
- 12 EU Health: From pandemic crisis management to a European Health Union? 233
- 13 Leader or laggard? Diversity and minority rights in a union under strain 253
- 14 The slow-burning climate emergency and the European Green Deal: Prospects and pitfalls in the polycrisis era 275
- 15 European economic governance in times of crisis: Solidarity, responsibility, and legitimacy in EU debt mutualisation 293
- Index 319
