(26 February 2016) – A report published by the Bertelsmann foundation analyses the substance of the February 18-19 European Council’s agreement concerning a “New Settlement for the United Kingdom within the European Union”. Three possible ‘plan Bs’ have also be defined in a research published by the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS).
The authors do so by contextualising this EU deal to avoid Brexit, and draw on the conclusions reached in a simulation of European Council negotiations between representatives of think tanks in the European Policy Institutes Network (EPIN), conducted jointly by CEPS and the Bertelsmann Stiftung in October 2015.
The February 18-19 agreement marks a watershed in acknowledging that EU integration is not a one-directional process of ‘ever closer Union’. Different paths of integration are now open to member states that do not compel them towards a common destination.
Three possible ‘plan Bs’ for Brexit have been also defined by Michael Emerson (CEPS), in a 24-page policy paper.