The EU After Brexit
| Published date | 01 June 2021 |
| DOI | 10.1177/20419058211022936 |
| Author | Nicolai von Ondarza |
| Date | 01 June 2021 |
26 POLITICAL INSIGHT • JUNE 2021
Brexit has radically changed British
politics, and although the eects
of the British exit on power
dynamics and policymaking in the
European Union have been more subtle,
they have been noticeable nonetheless.
First, there is the important symbolic eect
of Brexit on the EU; for the rst time in its
history, a Member State has left the bloc,
showing that even with all the associated
diculties of Britain’s exit, European
Integration is reversible. As one of the three
largest Member States with global links and
a globally read press, Britain’s departure has
also resonated around the world.
At the same time, the EU has also lost its
most ‘awkward’ member. Long before Brexit,
the UK had more opt-outs than any other
European state. Britain wanted to stay away
from major integration projects such as the
Eurozone, the Schengen common travel
area, and parts of the EU’s justice and home
aairs policies. The UK was also consistently
the EU country most often outvoted in
the Council of Ministers, frequently taking
a more critical stance towards further
integration, culminating in the role of a
bystander in the two major crises of the
last decade: the Eurozone sovereign debt
and the migration crisis. Nevertheless, even
as an ‘awkward’ member, the UK played an
important balancing function, regularly
willing to wield a veto that other Member
States, also wary of further integration,
The EU After Brexit
What impact has Brexit had on the rest of the European Union?
Nicolai von Ondarza explores the power dynamics of a smaller Union
and finds both newfound resilience and challenges ahead.
could hide behind, especially during budget
negotiations. In Europe, Britain also acted
as a counterweight to Franco-German
dominance and, at times, was a driving force
in liberal economic policies in trade or the
single market. As a consequence, the exit of
the UK from the EU had four distinct eects
on the politics of the Union.
The Franco-German engine
First, Brexit has led to a resurgence of the
‘Franco-German’ engine. Even in the more
diverse EU of 27 Member States, France
and Germany are now the two remaining
heavyweights and thus have even more
power to inuence EU policymaking.
Together, they now account for 33.5
per cent of the formal vote share in the
Council, and both the German Chancellor
and the French President are the decisive
voices amongst the heads of states and
governments in the European Council. As
© dpa / Alamy Stock Photo
Political Insight June 2021 BU.indd 26Political Insight June 2021 BU.indd 26 12/05/2021 15:3412/05/2021 15:34
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