Federico Fabbrini - The Law & Politics of Brexit

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Federico Fabbrini

Kalypso Nicoladis

Paul Craig

Giorgio Sacerdoti

Stephen Tierney

Sionaidh Douglas-Scott

John Doyle and Eileen Connolly

Michele Chang

Deirdre Curtin

Catherine Barnard

Marlene Wind

Uwe Puetter

Federico Fabbrini

Danuta Hbner

It is undeniable that the referendum of 23 June 2016 opened a new stage in European, as well as British politics, marred by uncertainty and, possibly, varying degrees of expectations, both on the part of the EU and the UK. The negotiations concerning the terms of leaving the Union by one of its important members will be complex and challenging.

Although ostensibly focused on intricate points of law, they will not be detached from the vagaries of politics. For it is quite obvious to everybody that recourse to a referendum did not appear as a result of immaculate conception, but was an outcome of political calculation on the part of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister David Cameron. It turned out that what was to be just a ploy in the internal British game became a historical fact that is about to change the political landscape of the United Kingdom as well as that of the European Union for generations to come.

As someone said: Be careful what you wish for. Wishes are brutal, unforgiving things.

And now, one year after that fateful decision, here we are, in the unforgiving world of Brexit and its unpredictable politics, beginning the most difficult negotiations of contemporary history. Their outcome is highly uncertain for the EU, the UK and, most importantly, our citizens. And yet the parties should be wary of entering the negotiations with trepidation and ill-feeling, because this would diminish their ability to lead the process in an orderly fashion. The process itself is complex enough and no additional burden need be added to it.

Both the EU and the UK must do everything to reduce the uncertainty that will accompany the difficult negotiations ahead.

On this point, it is of prime importance that everything should be done to protect the interests of all who are or will be affected by the negotiations. I mean here, first and foremost, the citizens of both the EU and the UK. The Union is the Union of citizens. They should not live in fear of losing their rightsalso their right to transparent negotiations that would have consequences for them and their families.

One year on, apart from putting our minds to the difficult task of negotiating ahead, coming out of the initial shock and starting to absorb its consequences, is the right moment to begin to understand why Brexit did actually happen, what led to it, as well as to look at what lies before us. Negotiations are one thing, and complex enough. But also, in the EU, Brexit challenges us with developing a quite new set of constitutional questions, and a necessity of finding further possible paths for national and European development and integration.

Brexit, thus, as a sui generis phenomenon, is not only a brutal political reality, but also an inviting object of multi-faceted scholarly investigation in the areas of British and European politics, economics, law, as well as cultural studies. In time, certainly many volumes will appear on the causes, motives, and (mis)calculations that led to Brexit, as well as on the negotiating process itself.

The book that you have in your hands is the first comprehensive study that makes it easier for the reader to comprehend the complexity of the law and politics of Brexit. It is an indispensable compendium of knowledge on all key substantial issues that will impinge on the new post-Brexit settlement in Britain and in the European Union.

Leading political scientists, lawyers, and economists, under the capable editorship of Professor Federico Fabbrini, have taken up the task of explaining why Brexit happened, what are the prospects for the negotiations, what are the regional and European ramifications, and what all this means for the future of Europe, beyond Brexit.

There is a wealth of expertise here, which will certainly turn out to be a treasure trove for all scholars, students, and practitioners of European and British politics, its past, present, and future.

This volume is the result of a research project I have undertaken since my appointment as a Full Professor of Law at the School of Law & Government of Dublin City University (DCU)ironically, on the day of the Brexit referendum. Special thanks are due to Alex Flach and his team at Oxford University PressNatasha Flemming, Natalie Patey, and Liz Daveyfor making sure the publication of this volume could happen in record time. The book chapters were first presented at a Conference hosted at DCU on April 2021, 2017. The Conference was opened by Charles Flanagan (then Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade of Ireland) and concluded by Danuta Hbner (President of the Constitutional Affairs Committee of the European Parliament)who honored us by kindly agreeing to write the Foreword to the volume. The DCU Conference was made possible by the generous sponsorship of a number of partners: the Bertelsmann Stiftung in Gtersloh, Germany; the Centro Studi sul Federalismo in Turin, Italy; the Reinholdt W Jork og Fond in Copenhagen, Denmark; and Matheson Law Firm, in Dublin, Ireland. A special thank you goes to Joe Beashel, Flavio Brugnoli, Katharina Gnath, Tim Scanlon, and Stefani Weiss for their trust and engagement. My friends Graham Butler, from the University of Aarhus and Matteo Scotto from Villa Vigoni (the Italian-German Center of European Excellence) also contributed materially and immaterially to the event at DCU, and I want to thank them warmly here.