The UK’s departure from the EU will have far-reaching consequences for its European neighbours and the EU institutions, as well as the UK itself. This important project will examine the approaches taken by the governments of the remaining member states (EU27), the EU institutions, and the UK to the Article 50 negotiations and to the negotiations concerning the UK’s future relationship with the EU.

Bringing together leading experts from across the EU to form a cross-national observatory and funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council, 'Negotiating Brexit' will:

  • provide informed commentary as the negotiations develop via a dedicated website, blogs and downloadable texts aimed at a general readership in the UK and beyond
  • hold conferences open to all at important stages of the negotiations
  • create a digital depository of key documents available to anyone interested in the UK’s changing relationship with the EU
  • deliver a collective volume that tracks the approaches of governments and EU institutions from David Cameron’s 2013 Bloomberg speech, through the June 23 referendum, the formal triggering of the Article 50 process by the government of Theresa May, to the negotiations themselves
  • examine in an edited collection the domestic politics of Brexit across the EU
  • contribute to academic scholarship on preferences, preference formation, and international negotiations

The team will work closely with the ‘UK in a Changing Europe’, a programme funded by the ESRC to provide independent and expert analysis to decision makers, stakeholders, the media, and the general public.

The project is led by Professor Hussein Kassim, University of East Anglia, and Dr Simon Usherwood, University of Surrey.

News

Blogs

The impact of Brexit on the economies of selected Euro area member states

By Stefan Griller, Florian Huber, Michael Pfarrho fer and Sonja Puntscher Riekmann ...

Brexit and the EP: What rights for the European citizens?

By  Nathalie Brack , Assistant Professor at the Department of Political Science of the...

The Hungarian Parliamentary Elections

... and what they could mean for the Brexit negotiations By  Robert Csehi ,...

Macron and Brexit: An update

By  Christian Lequesne , Professor of political science, Sciences Po Paris. ...

Gibraltar, UK and Spain: How Brexit could be an opportunity

By  Salvador Llaudes , analyst at Real Instituto Elcano and  Ignacio Molina , senior...
— 5 Items per Page
Showing 1 - 5 of 16 results.

Country or institution

Members of the observatory

Position and affiliation

Austria

Sonja Puntscher-Riekmann

Professor of Political Theory and, Director of the Salzburg Centre of European Union Studies, Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence, University of Salzburg

The Czech Republic

Petr Kaniok

Associate Professor, Department of International Relations and European Studies, Masaryk University

Denmark

Jesper Dahl Kelstrup, 

Associate Professor, Department of Social Sciences and Business, University of Roskilde

Ian Manners

Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Copenhagen

Mads Dagnis Jensen

Associate Professor, Roskilde School of Government, University of Roskilde

European Commission

Hussein Kassim

Professor, School of Politics, Philosophy, Language and Communication, UEA

European Council

Hussein Kassim

Professor, School of Politics, Philosophy, Language and Communication, UEA

European Parliament

Nathalie Brack

Lecturer, Department of Political Science, Université libre de Bruxelles

France

Christian Lequesne

Professor and Director of the Centre d'études et de recherches internationals, Sciences Po Paris

Germany

Eva Heidbreder

Professor, Department of Political Science, Otto-von Guericke Universität Magdeburg

Greece

Calliope Spanou

Professor, Department of Political Science and Public Administration, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens

Hungary

Robert Csehi

Visiting Professor at the School of Public Policy, Central European University

Ireland

Brigid Laffan

Professor, Director of Robert Schuman, European University Institute

Italy

Marco Brunazzo

Associate Professor of Political Science, Department of Sociology and Social Research, University of Trento

Vincent Della Sala

Associate Professor of Political Science, Department of Sociology and Social Research, University of Trento

Lithuania

Ramūnas Vilpišauskas

Professor and Director of the Institute of International Relations and Political Science, Vilnius University

Luxembourg

Anna-Lena Hoegenauer

Research Scientist, University of Luxembourg

Netherlands

Adriaan Schout

Senior Research Fellow and Coordinator Europe, Netherlands Institute of International Relations, Clingendael

Norway

Ulf Sverdrup

Director of the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI)

Poland

Natasza Styczyńska

Assistant Professor, Centre for European Studies, Jagiellonian University

Spain

Carlos Closa

Professor, Institute of Politics and Public Goods, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas-Spanish National Research Council

Salvador Llaudes

Analyst, the Elcano Royal Institute and Lecturer, Department of Politics and International Relations, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid

Ignacio Molina

Senior Analyst, the Elcano Royal Institute and Lecturer, Department of Politics and International Relations, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid

Sweden

Mats Braun

Senior Lecturer, Södertörn University, Sweden

UK

Hussein Kassim

Professor, School of Politics, Philosophy, Language and Communication, UEA

Simon Usherwood

Reader, University of Surrey

Our first publication, ‘Negotiating Brexit: what do UK negotiating partners want?’, was launched on Friday 20 October at a conference held at the British Academy in London.

Members of the team presented their studies alongside several distinguished keynote speakers that included: former Foreign Secretary of State Sir Malcolm Rifkind QC; Legal Counsel at EU reform conferences from Maastricht to Lisbon Jean-Claude Piris; Lindsay Appleby Director General at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office; and Chief Advisor to the EU Brexit Negotiator, Michel Barnier, Stefaan De Rynck.

For the countries and the institutions that they cover, contributors addressed the following questions:

  • How important is Brexit to them? How are they preparing? Do they see the UK’s departure as a matter for regret, opportunity, or both?
  • How do they view the principles that were adopted by the European Council in the wake of the UK referendum? Do they think that Michel Barnier is doing a good job as the EU’s chief negotiator?
  • How is the UK viewed from the national capitals of the EU27? Is unity likely to hold or will it dissolve when and if the talks move to the UK’s future trading relationship?
     

Download the Negotiating Brexit booklet

Negotiating Brexit: Where Now?

In the wake of the October 2018 European Council, which was signalled as the decisive moment for the negotiations, we launched our second publication at a conference that takes stock of developments, looks at the views from other national capitals and “Brussels”, and considers the implications in a number of key areas, including the Irish border, trade, financial services, aviation, food, and competition policy.

For a report and video highlights from the day, see our news article.

Download the Negotiating Brexit: Where Now? booklet

  • Another Europe Is Possible was established to campaign for a radical ‘in’ vote in the EU referendum on 23rd June 2016, coming from across the spectrum of the progressive left, working across party political lines to campaign for democracy, human rights, and social justice.

  • The Department for Exiting the European Union is responsible for overseeing negotiations to leave the EU and establishing the future relationship between the UK and EU.

  • The EU Law Analysis blog provides expert insight into EU law developments.

  • The Brexit Observatory of the Institute for Employment Studies is looking for answers to Brexit-related challenges, by sharing relevant research, tracking datasets, and linking to sources of independent information.

  • Left Leave is the Campaign for a UK Left Exit from the EU. 

  • LSE Brexit is a multidisciplinary, evidence-based blog run by the London School of Economics and Political Science. It is part of the ‘LSE Programme on Brexit’, run jointly by the European Institute and the Institute of Public Affairs. 

  • Open Britain is a cross-party, grassroots campaign fighting against a hard Brexit. 

  • The UK in a Changing Europe promotes rigorous, high-quality and independent research into the complex and ever changing relationship between the UK and the European Union (EU). 

  • The UCL Brexit Hub is UCL's portal for research, academic content and expertise on all things Brexit.

  • The UK Parliament Brexit News publishes research and analysis from Parliament's libraries and committees on how leaving the EU will affect different policy areas in the UK.