The Pros And Cons Of Brexit

To better understand Brexit, one must know about the European Union (EU). The EU began following World War II with a purpose to create economic agreements amongst the countries of Europe. The belief behind the establishment of the EU is that countries whom trade with one another are less likely to go to war. Since its establishment, the EU has grown in number of member states and in the amount of power the governing bodies of the EU possess. In 1992, the EU became a single market as if it is one country. All new members of the EU must adopt the EU’s currency, the euro, in which 19 of the 28 countries have adopted. As a single market the EU parliament sets laws in many areas: environment, transport, consumer rights, etc. The single market allows

The process for a member state to leave the EU is addressed in Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty. Article 50 basically states the following: The member state must decide to exit the EU. The member state must invoke Article 50 through notification to the European Council. The member state must negotiate the exiting terms with the EU. There will a two-year period of negotiations to reach an agreement on the final terms; however, an extension can be applied if all members agree. The exiting member cannot take part in the EU’s internal discussions regarding that member’s exit. (See Illustration Appendix for a diagram of the processes for

Although Scotland and the Northern Ireland areas returned a majority vote to stay in the EU, the overall population of the UK returned a majority vote in favor of the UK exiting the EU. On March 29, 2017, Prime Minister May invoked Article 50 beginning the two-year period of negotiations with a set exit date of March 29, 2019. Each of the UK and the EU has a team of four key negotiators for detailed negotiations; however, the draft deal will need to receive an approval of at least 20 countries with at least 65% of the EU populations, and it will need to be ratified by the European Parliament. On September 25, 2017, Prime Minister May delivered a speech in Italy that addressed some UK proposals for negotiations. One proposal is to allow for a two-year transitional period post Brexit during which the UK will remain under EU laws, including paying into the EU’s budget, and the UK will remain under all EU treaties. In response to the speech, a few EU members made statements indicating that the UK must provide clarity pertaining to three key topics: Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland’s border, rights of EU nationals residing in the UK post Brexit, financial settlement of exiting terms. The fifth round of negotiations is currently underway with little or no progress being accomplished as of date. Without an agreement a