FACTSHEET BREXIT. What is the European Union? What is a Referendum? What is Brexit? Why is Brexit happening?

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Florence Black
5 years ago
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1 What is the European Union? The European Union or EU is an economic and political partnership made up of 28 European countries that came into existence in its current form in Before then it was called the European Economic Community (EEC) which was set up in 1957 to promote better trading between member countries. The functions and rules evolved over time and new functions were added, for example, the single market (see below), an EU currency (the Euro ), setting up an EU parliament and court. The EU is defined through the European Community Act 1972 and a range of Treaties, with the European Community Act being the legislation that makes a country a member of the EU. Every country that becomes a member of the EU must sign up to the Treaties and must put EU law into its own law. You can find out more at What is a Referendum? A Referendum is a vote asking a single political question that has been referred to the electorate for a direct decision. Most political questions are decided by elected representatives in parliament so referenda only happen now and again, usually to decide on an important constitutional question. What is Brexit? Brexit is the name given to the decision by Britain to leave the EU. This decision was made as a result of the EU Referendum which took place on 23 June The word Brexit is just shorthand for British exit. Why is Brexit happening? Brexit is happening because the majority vote in the EU Referendum was in favour of leaving the EU. The Leave vote totalled 52% and the Remain vote totalled 48%. However, the majority of people who voted here, 56% of voters in fact, voted to Remain. This means that most people here would like to stay in the EU. 78% of the young people who voted, voted to stay in the EU. A lot of young people weren t voting age at the time of the Referendum so if that s you, you didn t have a say at all.

What is Article 50 and what has it got to do with Brexit? Holding a referendum and winning the vote to Leave didn t in itself start the process of Brexit.

It s contained in the Treaty of Lisbon which was signed by all EU member states and became EU law in 2009.

2 What is Article 50 and what has it got to do with Brexit? Holding a referendum and winning the vote to Leave didn t in itself start the process of Brexit. That process doesn t officially start until Article 50 is triggered. Article 50 is the procedure that explains how a country can leave the EU. It s contained in the Treaty of Lisbon which was signed by all EU member states and became EU law in It s only five paragraphs long and it states that a country wanting to leave the EU must inform the European Council and initiate negotiations to come up with a Withdrawal Agreement i.e. the set of rules about how the EU and the country leaving the EU will deal with each other in the future. Article 50 was triggered by the British prime minister, Theresa May, on 29 March 2017 when she wrote a letter to the European Council stating that Britain wanted to withdraw from the EU. Since then the clock has been ticking because according to EU law, the Withdrawal Agreement has to be completed exactly two years after Article 50 is triggered, in this case, by 29 March Have we now left the EU? We won t leave the EU until 29 March 2019, Brexit Day. Until then, nothing changes. We stay in the EU and abide by EU law and everybody living here can go on exercising their rights as EU citizens.

3 What are the Brexit negotiations and when did they start? The Brexit negotiations is the process being carried out between the British government and the EU to discuss what they want their relationship to look like after Brexit and to agree on arrangements that are acceptable to both. The British and the EU have negotiation teams who draw up papers describing their preferred arrangements for the various issues at stake and then who meet on a regular and planned basis to discuss these papers. At the end of the negotiations, everything agreed will be written into the Withdrawal Agreement. Brexit negotiations started on 19 June 2017, almost a year after the EU Referendum. The negotiations are moving in phases with the first phase focusing on three big topics: what happens to citizens rights, what happens to the border in Ireland, and the financial settlement between Britain and the EU. On 8 December 2017, it was formally agreed by the British government and the EU that there had been sufficient progress on the first phase to move to the next phase. The paper agreed at this first phase provided some reassurances about the border and about citizens rights. The finer detail has yet to be settled on and the paper also needs to be put into a legally binding form. But the paper gives some cause for concern. For example, there are legal and practical contradictions in the paper, and there s nothing agreed about what rights will be available after Brexit Day for people from EU member states who want to live here in the future or people from here to who want to live in the EU in the future. The next phase of the negotiations is set to discuss the future relationship between Britain and the EU, including how trade will happen.

4 What will happen to the border in Ireland? After Brexit Day, the border in Ireland will become an external border of the EU. That could very likely mean some form of border controls that will restrict movement of people, goods and services. We still don t know how restricted that movement will be although both the British and Irish governments have said they don t want to have strong border controls. Terms like hard border and soft border are being used to describe the extent of controls that will be placed on the border, where a hard border means the strictest controls and a soft border means keeping things the way they are as much as possible. What does it mean when people talk about a soft Brexit and a hard Brexit? These terms are being used to describe the kind of relationship Britain will have with the EU after Brexit Day. A hard Brexit is taken to mean that there has been no deal and this will lead to a hard border being established in Ireland with many of the rights currently enjoyed being lost. A soft Brexit is taken to mean that there will be more compromise and for example, the British might end up staying in the single market or some version of it, and accepting EU migration, trade and other rules. What is the Great Repeal Bill? The Great Repeal Bill, or simply Repeal Bill, is a large piece of legislation that is going through the legislative process at Westminster right now. Its purpose is to take all existing EU law, wherever practical and put or transpose it into British law. Another key purpose of this Bill is to remove or repeal the European Community Act 1972 from British law. The changes within the Bill will take effect on Brexit Day. It ll be a tall order to move 43 years of EU law into British law and it certainly won t be straightforward. A further problem is that quite a lot of these laws can only be properly implemented where there s cross-national collaboration, that is, multiple countries with the same law working together. Also, a lot of people are worried that after Brexit Day, the British government will start making changes to those EU laws, changes that will slowly chip away at the rights we now enjoy, like human rights, citizen s rights, environmental rights, workers rights, etc.

5 What kind of things are covered under EU law? EU law is a huge body of legislation made up of hundreds of separate laws. Nearly every area of EU law and policy affects the lives of young people either directly or indirectly. The EU has very strong child protection laws: There are laws dealing with child trafficking, child abduction, asylum and immigration, sexual exploitation and abuse, family disputes, criminal proceedings involving young people, and consumer law that protects young people against hazardous products and unscrupulous advertising. On top of these laws, the EU has supports to help protect young people such as EUROPOL, the EU s law enforcement agency; the Cybercrime Centre, the EU s means of combating online child abuse; the Framework for Safer Mobile Use by Younger Teenagers and Children; and the Missing Children Hotline.. The EU has many progressive anti-discrimination laws for young people with disabilities and for LGB and transgender young people.

6 The single market (explained below) means that young people in the EU have extensive freedom of movement rights: o Because the EU allows freedom of movement between EU member states for citizens of the EU, there are lots of opportunities to visit and live in other countries and to experience other cultures. For example, ERASMUS is an EU programme available to young people through third level organisations as well as training, youth and sports organisations, which enables young people to study, train, work, volunteer and teach in other countries. o Freedom of movement will be more restricted after Brexit Day, though it s not known yet how far the restrictions will go. Certainly, the ability to study on the other side of the border in Ireland will not be the same. At the minute, there are 5,200 cross-border students and it s not clear how they or future students will be impacted. Inter-railing is a great way to travel Europe and is popular among a lot of young people, but such carefree travel, not just by rail but by all modes of transport, could become a thing of the past after Brexit Day. Work opportunities too will be restricted and this will impact young people who want to work abroad. The EU has a wide range of environmental protection laws and policies: EU environmental laws aim to protect our rivers and lakes, our seas and coasts, our air and soil, our drinking water and food, our biodiversity and wildlife. It includes laws to tackle climate change, ban pesticides and hormones used in many non-eu countries, protect species and natural habitats, and control the outbreak of diseases. A big concern for those who care about the planet, is that Brexit could be used to get rid of certain environmental legislation or lower certain environmental regulations. It s worth noting that despite the positives, the EU is not perfect and it needs significant reform. For example, the EU has a Commission made up of a body of non-elected representatives. The Commission is often criticised for having too much power and for being unaccountable because this power lies outside the democratic process. Or take the European Citizens Initiative which allows EU citizens to participate directly in the development of EU policies. While a good idea, it s really all style and no substance and needs to be given more power. The current State Aid Rules need reform because at the minute they re more about benefiting multinational companies. There are also various economic treaties that have been imposed on member states which limit how much can be spent and where. And moves towards militarisation of the EU, towards the creation of an EU state, towards diminishing human, social and economic rights, must all be resisted. Reform is needed in these and other areas.

7 What is the EU Single Market? The single market is an economic arrangement that operates between EU member states and allows trade to work pretty much as though the EU was a single country. There are four freedoms in the single market: free movement of goods, services, capital and labour. Within the single market, there are no taxes or tariffs on trade and certain common rules such as regulations or technical conditions are imposed. A country can be part of the single market without being an EU member so it s possible we might still remain in the single market after Brexit Day, although perhaps not with all the freedoms we currently have. What is the EU Customs Union? The customs union allows EU member states to trade freely with each other without the need for customs checks at borders and it sets a common external tariff on imports from countries outside the EU that all member states have to adhere to. This way, goods being imported into the EU pay the same tax irrespective of which member state they re going to. Come Brexit Day, it s highly likely that we ll have to leave the customs union. What is the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU)? CJEU is the court that interprets and enforces all EU law. It s based in Luxembourg and is the reference point for all domestic courts when it comes to enforcing EU law. After Brexit Day, we ll no longer be under the direct jurisdiction of CJEU although in the agreement announced on 8 December, it looks like it ll have some limited powers for the next 8 years for EU citizens living here. CJEU has made multiple rulings in relation to applying EU law here and several of those rulings have been in favour of workers and citizens rights.

8 What will happen to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR)? The ECHR is an international agreement which was produced by the Council of Europe, a body of 47 members that has nothing to do with the EU although all EU member states have signed up to the ECHR. The legal authority of the ECHR is the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) based in Strasbourg. Leaving the EU will not change our relationship with the ECHR and we ll still fall under the jurisdiction of the ECtHR. The Human Rights Act is the legislation here that implements the ECHR and Brexit won t impact that. However, the British government has said that it wants to repeal the Human Rights Act and replace it with a Bill of Rights. Many believe we stand to lose a lot of our rights here if that happens. What would be a good outcome for our island after Brexit Day? There are a few different opinions on what would be good or bad for the island of Ireland after Brexit Day. One such opinion is that we should be given Designated Special Status within the EU where the arrangements between us and the EU would be different from the arrangements between Britain and the EU. Designated Special Status would allow us to keep the rights and services we now currently enjoy as part of the EU. Designated Special Status would mean keeping freedom of movement rights and EU rights for workers, employment, social security and healthcare; it would mean holding onto the Customs Union, the Single Market and the jurisdiction of the CJEU, as well as EU funding streams like ERASMUS and PEACE. Designated Special Status would also protect the Peace Process and enable the full implementation of the Good Friday Agreement. Designated Special Status isn t a pipe dream. In fact, the EU already has special arrangements with several non-eu countries such as Switzerland, Norway, the Faroe Islands, Denmark, Greenland, Iceland and Liechtenstein. So Designated Special Status is entirely achievable.

YES, you can take part in the One Thing campaign upload a video or reply to our

9 Is there anything you can do to make sure your issues and concerns are heard by the people who can influence the Brexit negotiating team? YES, you can take part in the One Thing campaign upload a video or reply to our blog saying what your concerns are, write letters to your politicians, tell your friends to get involved.

Securing designated Special Status for the north within the EU April 2017

Securing designated Special Status for the north within the EU April 2017 April 2017 Securing designated Special Status for the north within the EU April 2017 On 23rd June 2016 the people of the North