Divorcing the European Union

http://www.unionsyndicale.eu

The economic principle I’m exploring is “Institutions are the ‘rules of the game’ that influence choices.”

My research question to help me study the economic principle is “Is the EU necessary?” and within that “Should countries in the EU be able to leave without consequences?”

The article published in the BBC titled “Brexit: All you need to know about the UK leaving the EU” demonstrates this economic principle because it shows that the Brexit split between the EU and the UK has been rough, because the UK is willing to accept fewer consequences than the EU requires, and because the two must agree on all terms before March 29, 2019.

First, the article states that the current Brexit movement is not meant to occur until March 29, 2019 and so the EU and UK have, since the Brexit vote, entered into a transition period to “get everything in place and allow businesses and others to prepare for the moment when the new post-Brexit rules between the UK and the EU begin. It also allows more time for the details of the new relationship to be fully hammered out.” Obviously, the Brexit vote was an unprecedented event, and because of this, both the European Union and the United Kingdom are uncertain of their continued economic, political, and social relationship. This transitional period could be detrimental to both the UK and the EU because…

Second, the UK and the EU are both trying to figure out where their relationship goes from here, or the terms of their “divorce.” Both “the UK and EU have provisionally agreed on the three ‘divorce’ issues of how much the UK owes the EU, what happens to the Northern Ireland border and what happens to UK citizens living elsewhere in the EU and EU citizens living in the UK.” But, there are still problems to be resolved. These problems must be addressed before Britain can actually leave the EU, for economic, political, and social security and stability.

Third, Britain is attempting the leave the EU with as few consequences as possible, however, the EU cannot accept that the UK is going to leave without facing the consequences, especially since there’s a distinct possibility that UK would be able to maintain its position in the free markets of the European Union, without paying, or by paying very little, while not having the face the detriments of a EU membership, like accepting refugees. Both sides are attempting to come to a conclusion as fast as possible, but the distinct possibility of other countries in the EU leaving the EU because they would not have to accept immigrant or the drawbacks of being in the EU means that the European Union is fighting hard for Britain not to have any special permissions- to pay the full price for Brexit.

In my next blog post I will research: How does the Schengen Zone of the EU impact cultural awareness and sharing?