COPSEY N. - The United Kingdom and the European Union (8h)

This compact seminar focuses on the relationship between the European Union and its only former Member State, the United Kingdom. It does so in two steps. First, it examines the agreements between the UK and EU that govern the relationship (e.g. the Withdrawal Agreement and its protocols). Second, it explores the UK’s path towards EU exit. Here the focus is on the 2016 referendum and the long road that led up to it; the Article 50 negotiations of 2017-18; UK parliamentary and electoral politics in 2019; and, the post-exit UK-EU relationship negotiations of 2020. Students will set out their own range of scenarios for the future UK-EU relationship towards the end of the seminar. By the end of this compact seminar, students should have a balanced understanding of the dynamics at play in the UK-EU relationship. They will also be able to situate the UK-EU relationship against the wider backdrop of the EU’s relations with its other neighbours and draw their own lessons and conclusions about what the Brexit experience means for European integration. Subject to their availability, we will try to involve some of the key players in the UK-EU relationship of recent years in this seminar by video link.