The European Council, the European Commission, and the Article 50 Negotiations: Entrepreneurial Institutions and the EU27

One of the surprises of the Article 50 negotiations and indeed the post-UK referendum period hitherto has been the unity demonstrated by the EU institutions and the EU27. Based on interviews conducted by the author with EU and national officials over the past three years, this paper explores the sources of that unity. Looking at the strategies adopted by the European Council and the European Commission on the eve of the UK referendum, it examines the structures and processes put in place by the EU institutions, their interaction with the member governments of the 27, and how the EU interest was framed and sustained through the various phases of the negotiations. It considers how the institutions arrived at a mutually acceptable division of labour, how inter-institutional rivalries were largely set aside, and what guarantees were necessary for the institutions to win the confidence of the member governments. Highlighting the role of contingency at key stages, the paper argues that the united front presented by EU institutions and the EU27 was by no means predictable or certain. Indeed, key mechanisms were put in place on the assumption that the UK would prove a more effective negotiator than it turned out to be, and the EU’s effectiveness was only enhanced by repeated misunderstandings and missteps by London.