Inside the deal: how the EU negotiated Brexit

Organised by

• Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies
• EGPP: European Governance and Politics Programme

Stefaan De Rynck will base part of his presentation on his recent book 'Inside the Deal. How the EU Got Brexit Done', a frank account of the EU’s side of the Brexit story from 2016 until 2021, the period when the EU and the UK negotiated the Withdrawal Agreement (WA) and the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA). His talk will dispel some myths in the UK’s perception of those negotiations both by what used to be 'Remainers' and 'Leavers', and explain how the EU remained patient while the UK changed aims and tactics. De Rynck will talk about the art of negotiations and the relationship between EU negotiators and their principals, which showed a remarkable unity.

The talk will also analyse today’s EU-UK relationship based on the WA, the TCA, and the recent Windsor Framework for Northern Ireland; how Brexit shaped today’s EU; and how the Russian war in Ukraine changed both the EU and its relationship with the UK.