The Added Value of the EU in the Post-Brexit World
Research Question
What is the added value, if any, of being inside the EU when negotiating treaties with external partners, compared to “going it alone” as the UK now does?
Project Description
This project will help answer the question: Was Brexit worth it? The UK has left the EU. For some, this is cause for celebration. ‘Global Britain’ can set out to strike lucrative trade deals around the world. For others, it is precisely the EU’s collective economic weight that pays off in international treaty negotiations and makes EU membership worthwhile in an increasingly challenging global environment. What these opposing views have in common is that they tend to rely on narratives rather than evidence-based research. Brexit, an unprecedented event in the EU’s history, presents an opportunity for testing the added value of the Union for its Member States and citizens in the world.
Selected Publications
Joris Larik, ‘Brexit, the EU-UK Withdrawal Agreement, and Global Treaty (Re-)Negotiations’, American Journal of International Law, Vol. 114, No. 3 (2020), pp. 443-462,
Joris Larik, ‘De handels- en samenwerkingsovereenkomst tussen de EU en het VK: veertienhonderd bladzijden schadebeperking’, Nederlands Juristenblad, Vol. 96, No. 5 (2021), pp. 350-357,
Joris Larik, ‘Brexit and the “Great British Trade-Off”: The Future of the EU’s and the UK’s External Treaty Relations’, in: W.T. Douma et al. (eds.), The Evolving Nature of EU External Relations Law (The Hague: T.M.C. Asser Press, 2021), pp. 277-291