Brexit: what happens next?

A vote by the British people to leave the European Union will confront the EU with an unprecedented challenge. While the referendum campaign has seen much speculation as to what might happen to the UK in the event of a vote to leave, there has been less analysis of how the remaining EU might react. To explore how the EU might react this Strategic Update explores two sets of issues. First, it explains the nine overlapping negotiations — in the UK, between the UK and the EU, within the EU, and internationally — that will be triggered by a vote to leave and some of the challenges the EU will face in each. Second, it sets out what positions each of the twenty-seven remaining EU member states and the EU’s institutions might take in negotiations with the UK and amongst themselves as they deal with a changing EU. This is based on analysis provided by a network of researchers based in each of the other twenty-seven EU member states.