Legitimacy crisis, Brexit

Question 1

Normative legitimacy

Answer 1

If a regime or institution lives up to a set of standards by which it is judged (moral or ethical standards, for example not committing genocide, proper representation)

Question 2

Sociological legitimacy

Answer 2

If people believe a regime or institution is normatively legitimate (more empirical, public support for a regime)
You might think a regime isn’t normatively legitimate, but the majority of people in that country thinks the government is legitimate, it is sociologically legitimate

Question 3

Drivers of EU politicisation

Answer 3

1. economic
2. cultural
3. institutional

This is conditional on political entrepeneurs and their ability to politicise the EU, which also depends on the electoral system in which they find themselves

Question 4

Economic drivers of EU politicization

Answer 4

1. Backlash against embedded neoliberalism (bias towards free market in EU)
2. Winners vs losers of globalisation due to the neoliberal economics in EU

Question 5

Cultural drivers of EU politicization

Answer 5

1. Struggle of nationalism (refugees, transfer of competences to EU level) vs supranationalism
2. Discussion of liberalism vs conservatism

Question 6

Institutional drivers of EU politicisation

Answer 6

1. Authority transfer towards Brussels –> integration by stealth (public wasn’t aware of integration)
2. Crises and the capability to handle them, this put the EU and its democratic deficit in the spotlight and people started noticing this more and more
3. EU democratic and communication deficit –> Who takes credit? National leaders will claim good decisions the EU makes and blame the EU when something goes wrong. It’s also hard for the EU to reach national citizens due to 27 different countries with different languages.

Question 7

Trends in EU politicisation

Answer 7

1. Increases when there are new Treaties, crises or other noticable development
2. Increase in Euroscepticism in national parliaments since the start of the century due to populists exploiting crises and elite sentiments for more nationalist attitudes
3. In 2014 EP had 130 seats that are for the abolition of the EU
4. Euroscepticism is all over Europe, causes vary per region (Hungary and Austria high)

Question 8

Trends in voting for EP

Answer 8

1. Turnout is decreasing
2. There was an increase after Brexit due to more interest
3. People have a disinterest in the EU and are more likely to vote for national elections

Question 9

Summary UK relationship with EU

Answer 9

UK leaving negotiations for EEC and Euratom. EC membership was vetoed twice by France. 1975 referendum on EU membership was 67% yes. Caused trouble with obstructionist attitude of UK. BBQ, opt-outs of EMU, obstruction of deeper integration in Amsterdam Treaty and reluctance in Nice. Opt-outs in Eurocrisis. Big part in slowing process of European integration.

Question 10

Timeline of 2016 UK referendum on EU membership

Answer 10

1. David Cameron elected as tory PM
2. Massive win for UKIP in EP election
3. Cameron re-elected and announces EU referendum due to domestic pressure, which also came from within his party. This was a gamble to please his own party members, as he believed the UK would vote to stay in and he even campaigned for this.
4. EU proposes talks for a better deal with UK, if they choose to stay
5. Brexit referendum with 52% vote for leaving

Question 11

Remain campaign Brexit

Answer 11

Key message for the remain campaign was that it may be bad now, but it will be worse if we leave. It would lose access to the EU single market, it would lead to a reduction of workers’ rights protection and it would decrease the stability of the country in general. It was a weak campaign, mostly about stability.

Question 12

Leave campaign Brexit

Answer 12

Much stronger. Boris Johnson was more charismatic and new. The key message was “let’s take back control” over “our money, our economy, our borders, our security and our taxes”. They claimed it would lead to freedom. Painted the EU as distant, unaccountable and elitist. Leaving would be beneficial for the ‘working people’ of this country, instead of the elitists. They even said: “the people of this country have had enough of experts”.

Question 13

Tabloids role in anti-EU sentiment

Answer 13

Populist character. Headlines such as: “EU wants to merge the UK with France”, “EU killers and rapists we’ve failed to report”, and “EU to ban selling eggs by the dozen”.

Question 14

Factors in majority for leaving EU UK

Answer 14

1. Stronger leave campaign
2. Tabloids populist headlines
3. Lack of EU know-how
4. Nationalist sentiment

Question 15

Labour vs Conservative attitude towards EU switch

Answer 15

Initially Labour was Eurosceptic and Conservative pro-Europe. This switched (Even divide in Conservatives, majority of the parliamentary votes to stay in EU came from Tories) due to economic issues becoming less important, while cultural and identity issues became more important.

Question 16

Nationalist sentiment in the UK

Answer 16

Sentiment that UK would still be a global superpower. Reinforced by the fact that UK still had the Commonwealth.

Question 17

Aftermath of Brexit referendum timeline

Answer 17

1. Cameron resigns, Theresa May takes over
2. May triggers article 50 to leave, loses elections she called for because she wanted a stronger mandate
3. May and EU get an agreement on withdrawal, but this is rejected 3 times by the British parliament, deadline for Brexit got extended twice
4. Johnson takes over from May, asks for third extension and wins elections
5. Johnson passes withdrawal bill in Parliament and in EP –> transition period about future relationship. Question is what to do with Irish backstop
6. EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement agreed upon, end of transition period.
   This was all over the course of 4 years lol

Question 18

EU-UK negotiations main issues

Answer 18

1. What to do with UK citizens who, due to EU-citizenship, moved to EU territory?
2. What to do with the Northern-Ireland/Ireland border? The EU and Ireland wanted it to be open, but UK didn’t want open borders on their territory
3. How to financially settle the split?
   The EU did not want to discuss anything on how the relationship between the EU and the UK would be in the future, before they had agreement on the Irish border question, which is why this question is also called the Irish backstop.

Question 19

Consequences of Brexit for UK

Answer 19

1. Aspired to have a new, global role in the world. Because of its independent role, they were able to respond quicker to Russia’s invasion in Ukraine. This did come with scepticism, because it meant they were cutting themselves off from international relations
2. Northern Ireland issue resolved by opening borders between Ireland/Northern Ireland, but by checking on border between UK mainland and Northern Ireland.
3. Boost for mainly Scottish, but also Welsh and Northern Irish independent movements to rejoin the EU.

Question 20

Consequences of Brexit for the EU

Answer 20

1. Changing power relations, there was one major player less (and an obstructionist one, at that). This meant more integration and a stronger Franco-German axis
2. Opportunity to reinvent EU. Brexit was a wake-up call to show the EU that things should be done different. Push towards a possible Treaty reform.
3. Brexit vote was an inspiration for ideas of other countries to leave, especially pushed by far-right actors.