Décryptage 200623
Is Brexit a game changer for EU external differentiated integration?
Cette publication est disponible en anglais.
By Andreas Eisl, Research fellow, Jacques Delors Institute, & Elvire Fabry, Senior Research fellow, Jacques Delors Institute, Paris.
Published in Towards an ambitious, broad, deep and flexible EU-UK partnership? from the Brexit Think Tank Group, dir. European Policy Centre (EPC).
The future EU-UK relationship cannot be negotiated in abstracto as a purist form of ‘taking back control’, as imagined by Prime Minister Boris Johnson. The UK is the first country to leave the EU, but the last of a long list of close neighbours and remote countries which have asked for preferential access to the Union’s Single Market. Any post-Brexit agreement will have to fit into an already complex framework of external differentiated integration. Over the years, the EU has accepted very diverse modes of such integration. Every agreement corresponds to a specific moment of the EU project, a specific partner and specific objectives, and is implemented through a specific institutional set-up.
However, while the UK expects to benefit from this ad hoc approach to obtain a tailormade post-Brexit agreement, a rather systemic approach is prevailing with EU negotiators. The latter must carefully anticipate any spillover effects of a final deal on the Single Market; on member states as much as on countries benefiting from specific forms of external differentiated integration.
The global economic crisis provoked by the COVID-19 pandemic has deeply transformed the post-Brexit political economy. Avoiding the additional economic costs of a hard Brexit could be an incentive for concession. However, now more than ever, the EU27’s priority, reflected in its negotiating mandate for post-Brexit relations, is to safeguard its economic competitiveness by preserving the integrity of the Single Market and using the full leverage of its economic weight on third countries.
While (i) the EU had launched a review of the various existing differentiated integration agreements even before the 2016 referendum, (ii) Brexit has been an additional incentive to increase EU control over preferential partners. Brexit led to a harder EU stance on unified framework agreements with stronger institutional mechanisms to ensure a level playing field with third countries. From this, it follows that (iii) rather than facilitate differentiation in integration, Brexit might even be a turning point to upgrade the Single Market’s leverage. ▪▪▪
SUR LE MÊME THÈME
ON THE SAME THEME
PUBLICATIONS
Vers une relation du Labour plus étroite avec l’Europe
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Points communs et lignes de fracture dans les visions de la politique économique de l’UE
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Bien plus qu’un marché
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MÉDIAS
MEDIAS
L’Eurogroupe débat des propositions d’Enrico Letta pour réactiver la compétitivité européenne
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La petite musique européenne de Keir Starmer
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Letta alerta en Madrid de que la pérdida de competitividad de la UE es “dramática”
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ÉVÉNEMENTS
EVENTS
CYCLE DE RENCONTRES « BEYOND BREXIT » – L’ACCORD COMMERCIAL ENTRE L’UNION EUROPÉENNE ET LE ROYAUME-UNI : COMMENT NÉGOCIER LA RUPTURE ?
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Euroquestions | Quelle place pour l’Europe dans le nationalisme écossais ?
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The EU-UK deal – A basis to build upon?
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Euroquestions | Brexit : que peut-on encore espérer ?
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Differentiated Integration and the Future of Europe: Promises, Pitfalls, Pathways
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Euroquestions | Relance et puissance : mots d’ordre de la rentrée européenne
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Negotiating the Future EU-UK Relationship in times of Pandemics
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Conférence
Royaume-Uni et Union européenne :
quel partenariat futur ?
![](https://institutdelors.eu/wp-content/themes/Avada-Child-Theme/images/interventionblanc.png)
Listen to the ECIPE Seminar:
After Brexit – What’s next for EU-UK relations?
![](https://institutdelors.eu/wp-content/themes/Avada-Child-Theme/images/interventionblanc.png)
Copenhague, 16 septembre 2019 – Perspectives et enjeux de la Défense européenne
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San Sebastian, 12 septembre 2019 – La procédure de retrait du Royaume-Uni de l’UE
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Bruxelles, 21 mai 2019 – L’Europe après Sibiu : vers une intégration différenciée ?
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Paris, 4 avril 2019 – Brexit, une histoire sans fin ?
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Paris, 18 mars 2019 – L’Europe, quel projet pour aujourd’hui ?
![](https://institutdelors.eu/wp-content/themes/Avada-Child-Theme/images/interventionblanc.png)
Grenoble, 13 mars 2019 – Brexit : fracture ou divorce positif ?
![](https://institutdelors.eu/wp-content/themes/Avada-Child-Theme/images/interventionblanc.png)
Rome, 12 mars 2019 – Le futur de l’UE
![](https://institutdelors.eu/wp-content/themes/Avada-Child-Theme/images/interventionblanc.png)
Lille, 26 février 2019 – Hauts-de-France et Royaume-Uni : quel avenir en commun ?
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3 décembre 2018 – Le Brexit est-il réversible ?
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Paris, 11 juin 2018 – Table ronde sur le Brexit
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Louvain, 19 avril 2018 – Brexit ? Vraiment ?
![](https://institutdelors.eu/wp-content/themes/Avada-Child-Theme/images/interventionblanc.png)
Paris, 13 avril 2018 – Académie : l’Europe dans le monde
![](https://institutdelors.eu/wp-content/themes/Avada-Child-Theme/images/evenementbleu.png)
Paris, 4 avril 2018 – Brexit : derniers mois de négociation
![](https://institutdelors.eu/wp-content/themes/Avada-Child-Theme/images/interventionblanc.png)
Dublin, 28 mars 2018 – Le Brexit et l’Europe, un enjeu politique et spirituel
![](https://institutdelors.eu/wp-content/themes/Avada-Child-Theme/images/interventionblanc.png)
Bruxelles, 22 février 2018 – CEPSLab 18
![](https://institutdelors.eu/wp-content/themes/Avada-Child-Theme/images/interventionblanc.png)
Londres, 16 février 2018 – Reconnecter l’UE avec ses citoyens
![](https://institutdelors.eu/wp-content/themes/Avada-Child-Theme/images/interventionblanc.png)
Zagreb, 9 février 2018 – Le futur de l’Europe
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Paris, 26 janvier 2018 – Lancement du Colgate Alumni Club de Paris
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Londres, 18 janvier 2018 – Lancement du Trade Knowledge Exchange
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Paris, 8 décembre 2017 – Académie : l’Europe politique et sociale
![](https://institutdelors.eu/wp-content/themes/Avada-Child-Theme/images/evenementbleu.png)
Dublin, 26 octobre 2017 – Brexit, Frontière et Marché intérieur
![](https://institutdelors.eu/wp-content/themes/Avada-Child-Theme/images/interventionblanc.png)
Prague, 15 juin 2017 – Brexit : quelles options pour le commerce UE – Royaume Uni ?
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Bruxelles, 1er juin 2017 – L’intégration à plusieurs vitesses
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Enghien-les-Bains, 20 mai 2017 – Brexit, Merkel IV, présidentielle française : Refonder, réformer, relancer l’Europe?
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Prague, 15 mai 2017 – Les perspectives et les limites du processus d’intégration
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Bruxelles, 21 avril 2017 – La dimension budgétaire du Brexit
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Milan, 16 mars 2017 – Les vitesses de l’Europe
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Bruxelles, 15 mars 2017 – Le Brexit et le budget de l’UE
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Paris, 26 janvier 2017 – Europe – Assurance – Brexit – Enjeux politiques et économiques en 2017
![](https://institutdelors.eu/wp-content/themes/Avada-Child-Theme/images/interventionblanc.png)
Paris, 4 janvier 2017 – Brexit et relance de l’UE
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Paris, 15 décembre 2016 – Le référendum britannique et l’évolution du projet européen
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Bruxelles, 1er décembre 2016 – Quel projet pour l’UE après le vote Brexit?
![](https://institutdelors.eu/wp-content/themes/Avada-Child-Theme/images/interventionblanc.png)
Rome, 24 novembre 2016 – Les implications politiques et institutionnelles de l’intégration différenciée
![](https://institutdelors.eu/wp-content/themes/Avada-Child-Theme/images/interventionblanc.png)
Bruxelles, 29 septembre 2016 – Les futures relations entre le Royaume-Uni et l’UE
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Paris, 12 juillet 2016 – L’intégration différenciée au sein de l’Union européenne
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