29. The EU’s Response to Brexit

Most analyses of Brexit point to the mistakes made on the UK side. This chapter instead takes a critical view of how the EU has responded to Brexit. We argue that in facing an unprecedented development the EU has also made a number of problematic decisions. The chapter divides these mistakes into three groups, according to which the EU has (1) misguided Britain over its place in the Union; (2) misread what Brexit means; and (3) mishandled aspects of the Brexit negotiations. The chapter provides an overview of these mistakes with a view to rebalancing the debate over Britain, the EU, and Brexit. Our aim is to raise legitimate questions about the Union’s response to Brexit, rather than to assess fully the effectiveness and legitimacy of the EU’s response.