The Scrutiny of Brexit in National Parliaments: Germany, Luxembourg and the Czech Republic Compared

Abstract

The outcome of the Brexit referendum has led to a highly mediatized battle of power between the British government and parliament over how much influence the latter can exert over the British position in the negotiations with the European Union. At the same time, the role of parliaments in the remaining member states has received virtually no public attention, despite the fact that the stakes are also high for their publics. The aim of our paper is to shed light on dynamics of parliamentary control of Brexit in the remaining member states through a comparative study of the German, Czech and Luxembourgish parliaments. Each of these member states has one or several key interests at stake in the negotiations, such as exports, the financial sector and future contributions to the EU budget (Germany, Luxembourg), or migration to the UK and the maintenance of EU policies and their budgetary health (Czech Republic). The three cases represent geographical diversity and differently sized countries, to take into account different levels of governmental-influence over the Brexit negotiations. The study will focus on the formal powers of parliaments, their actual mobilization and the key dynamics that mark their scrutiny of the Brexit negotiations.

External Disruptions to Qualitative Data Collection: Addressing Risks Relating to Brexit and Researcher-Participant Rapport

“…In this sense, elite cues are politically driven, simplistic summaries of complex situations that politicians use to convince voters to side with a standpoint they favour (Darmofal, 2005). Although the integrity of some of the claims put forward during the campaigns remain under scrutiny (Buth et al, 2019;Freeden, 2016), one conclusive outcome of the referendum was the emergence of two new and distinct political tribal identities that transcend the traditional left-right spectrum. Postreferendum UK citizens can now identify with "Remainer" and "Leaver/Brexiteer" tribal political identities (Hobolt, 2016).…”

Parliamentary Scrutiny of Brexit in the EU-27

“…Secondly, Brexit was highly salient (Buth et al 2019;Christiansen and Fromage 2019;Felbermayr et al 2018) -it affected the mobility and rights of citizens, trade in goods and services and the EU budget, and all member states were likely to suffer economic losses. We would therefore expect to find a high intensity of interparliamentary interaction (cf.…”

Luxembourg and the European Union

“…Luxembourgish politicians were origi nally open to compromise to keep Britain in the EU, despite the fact that they worried that this might weaken the EU (Högenauer, 2017). However, the way in which British Prime Minister David Cameron announced the referendum and his demands for a special deal turned the mood sour and led to accusations of "cherry-picking" and "blackmail," ul timately reducing the willingness to compromise in practice (Buth, Högenauer, & Kaniok, 2019;Högenauer, 2017). After the referendum, both the population and the elite adapted rapidly to the changing situation and decided that the result meant that Britain would re ally have to leave the EU.…”

“…In addition, almost all parties agree that there must be a clear difference between EU member states and non-member states regarding access to the internal market in the financial sector. It is only the ADR that would like to create a quasi-membership status for the United Kingdom (Buth et al, 2019). Public Opinion, Political Parties, and the EU Luxembourg has the reputation of being one of the most pro-European countries in the EU.…”