Scientific Organisers:

Brigid Laffan | EUI

Anand Menon | King’s College London

The outcome of the referendum of 23 June 2016 in the United Kingdom on the question of the UK’s membership of the European Union (EU) brings the UK and the EU into uncharted territory. No Member State has ceded from the Union in the history of the EU. Those supporting Leave won the referendum and the UK Government is preparing to serve the Article 50 notice by the end of March 2017 outlining its intention to exit. The aim of this workshop, organised by the Schuman Centre in conjunction with the ESRC ‘UK in a Changing Europe’, was to explore a Union at this ‘constitutional moment’. The negotiations on BREXIT are unprecedented in scale and complexity and the stakes are very high for both sides. The UK has to negotiate the terms of departure and its future relationship with the Union. Given that over 40% of its trade is with its EU neighbours, and it will remain a European country, its future relationship with the EU is of crucial importance. BREXIT will also have enormous consequences for the internal cohesion of the UK as a state, and post the referendum difficult tensions between the component parts of the Union have been brought sharply into focus. The EU likewise faces tensions and trade-offs: it has to balance a desire to arrive at a mutually advantageous agreement with the UK while protecting the cohesion and resilience of EU 27.

Programme