Asserting the leadership in Brexit negotiations

Abstract

The Brexit negotiations, by far one of the most challenging issues the European Union faced in 2017, proved to be yet another opportunity for EU institutions – the European Parliament, the European Commission and the Council – to engage in sort of a power game. Although all three institutions actively took part in it, the European Parliament’s involvement was the most visible and vocal. As it going to be demonstrated, the EP tried to use the Treaty’s Article 50 proceedings to reassert its position within the EU’s institutional framework. It attempted to achieve this goal through purposeful communication, hence fitting the constructivist model of political and institutional agents’ interaction. The European Parliament’s activity may also be analysed in the context of historical institutionalism, explaining Parliament’s specific behaviour: its continuous quest for more power. As the Brexit negotiations have not yet concluded by the time of writing, the author calls for further research on the topic of intra-institutional dynamics. Evidence gathered so far strongly suggest that the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union might permanently influence the relations of power between the major EU institutions.