The road to Brexit: European integration, the UK and the failure of the “malign neglect” strategy toward the EU

Roberto Di Quirico

2020-01-01

---

Abstract

This essay shows that there is a long-term rationale for Brexit since the early years of the UK membership in the ECC. So, the UK had to decide between full integration in the EU or Brexit independently by the referendum result. The UK approach to further integration in Europe here called “malign neglect” was no more sustainable. The international financial crises resulted in the empowerment of the EMU economic governance. So, to stay out of the EMU and its decisional arena made the UK more and more marginal in the EU affairs endangering the global role of the country. At the referendum time, the UK had to choose among full integration, Brexit or complete marginalisation in the European affairs. So, Brexit was a real political option, not just an accident resulted by the unexpected outcome of a populist referendum.