Schmidt in Foreign Affairs Survey on Brexit
Vivien Schmidt, Professor of International Relations and Jean Monnet Chair of European Integration at the Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University was one of the leading experts on Europe that the journal Foreign Affairs interviewed for its experts survey on whether the European Union (EU) is better off without Britain as a member. The results and expert opinions were published on February 5, 2020, and can be read in full here.
Foreign Affairs spoke to dozens of authorities with deep specialized expertise on Europe and the European Union, and asked them to state whether they agreed or disagreed with the proposition, whether “the European Union will be better off without the United Kingdom”?
Schmidt, who voted ‘neutral,’ explained her response to the question thus:
I responded “neutral” not because there will be little effect but because the good and bad cancel one another out. The EU will be better off without such an awkward partner. The United Kingdom made EU agreements more difficult, and is responsible for some of the very neoliberal policies for which it blames the EU, such as the Single Market with its free movement of people along with goods, capital,and services. But the EU will also be worse off without the United Kingdom, which contributed to the EU’s economic size, security capacity, and diversity. Finally, the answer is also “neutral” because we can hope that rather than a crash out, a deal will be struck that keeps the United Kingdom very close to the EU, as its closest trading partner, as a key member of its security and defense community, and as a continued supporter of common liberal democratic values.
Vivien A. Schmidt is Professor of International Relations and Jean Monnet Professor of European Integration at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies and was the first Director of BU’s Center for the Study of Europe, housed at the Pardee School. Her latest books include the forthcoming Europe’s Crisis of Legitimacy: Governing by Rules and Ruling by Numbers in the Eurozone (2019), Resilient Liberalism in Europe’s Political Economy (co-edited, 2013), Debating Political Identity and Legitimacy in the European Union (co-edited, 2011), Democracy in Europe (2006)—named in 2015 by the European Parliament as one of the ‘100 Books on Europe to Remember’—and The Futures of European Capitalism (2002). Her honors, awards, and fellowships include a Guggenheim Fellowship, an honorary doctorate from the Free University of Brussels (ULB), the Belgian Franqui Interuniversity Chair for foreign scholars, a Rockefeller Bellagio Center Residency, and Fulbright Fellowships to France and the UK. She was recently named a Chevalier in the French Legion of Honor.