After almost 4 years since 17 million Brits voted for this outcome, the UK has finally divorced from the European supranational behemoth. The year-end deal on the new trade rapport between the two sides of the Channel was elusive, but the sighs of relief in Whitehall and the Berlaymont have been music to each other’s ears. With two of the most insightful Brexit watchers in the market—Charles Grant, the 22-year director of the Center for European Reform (CER) and Mujtaba Rahman of Eurasia Group, NYU Stern and SciencesPo—, we bring to you a retrospective on the chaotic last 3.5 years of endless back-and-forth, vitriol and deadline extensions. If anything, what has Brexit taught us about the inner forces driving the UK and the EU, and to what extent will it be a template of future divorces of this sort?
26 February 2021