Brexit is short for “British Exit”. By now probably everybody has heard that the citizens of the UK decided last week, in a country-wide vote called a “plebiscite” or “referendum”, that their country should leave the European Union, or EU. What does this involve?
Brexit at the international level
The EU is a supra-national body created initially by group of six countries which has now grown to 28 members. It is a very complex example of an international organisation, like the United Nations or even the International Telegraph Convention of 1865, which was organised to facilitate communications between countries.
If you think of your local sports club, the individual people are the units who combine together to make the club: the supporters, players and coaches. The members of the EU are countries, and it also has specialised units, like its administration (bureaucracy) and its directors (the European Parliament).
The EU was created by treaty, and over time this structure has expanded and become more complex. The basic idea was to create an international zone where products and people could move freely. Part of the motivation for doing this was political. The “European Common Market” was created after World War 2 as a way for European countries to stop being destructive rivals and cement a cooperative system that would bind them together, for their mutual benefit.
(West) German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer helped create the European Economic Community, the predecessor to the EU.
The other reason was economic. By breaking down barriers to the flow of products between countries, and people (as visitors, tourists and workers), Europe could gain the advantages that large countries like the United States had.
Over time, the EU expanded, and the UK joined the EU on 1 January 1973. In 1975, the country had a referendum to decide whether it should continue its membership in the group, and, on that occasion, the voters decided yes.
The main treaty that ties the UK to the EU is Lisbon Treaty, which is like the current constitution of the EU. This treaty was adopted on 13 December 2007, and has its own website. This treaty includes Article 50 (an “article” of a treaty is like a chapter in a book), which explains the procedure for how a country can withdraw from the EU. To implement Brexit, the UK simply has to follow this procedure.
Brexit at the national level
The other thing the UK has to do, legally speaking, to reverse its EU involvement is to change its national laws that are based on being part of the EU. A treaty is an agreement between countries. To implement the treaties they sign, countries enact laws. For example, the UK decided that its courts should respect the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights. The UK Parliament made the ECHR decisions part of the British legal system by passing a law which did that, namely the Human Rights Act 1998. The second level of disengagement that will occur between the UK and EU accordingly will occur at this level, where the UK Parliament and Government – probably in negotiation with the EU – will decide what parts of the EU system are good to continue using to and what parts will be disconnected. Any continuing connection – which no doubt would be good for both sides – will depend on the EU’s willingness to allow the UK to continue being part of a wider European government system without being an actual EU member.
The European Parliament
It is likely that the European Union will respond to Brexit, the UK decision to leave the EU, by making some reforms to the EU. The need for change is already being discussed by European politicians.
[Photo credits: A-Beefeater-Yeoman-panoramio by CyberCop; Konrad Adenauer by the German Federal Archive; European Parliament by Bjorn Laczay, all public domain photographs made available for use here under Creative Commons licences by Wikimedia Commons. This article is not intended as legal advice for any particular person. The author, James Irving of Irving Law, is a commercial lawyer in Perth, Western Australia. Please visit the Irving Law website for more information.]
