House United, House Divided: Explaining the EU's Unity in the Brexit Negotiations

While the UK's EU referendum and the resulting decision to leave the EU have been widely understood to contrast with European values such as cosmopolitanism, tolerance, pragmatism and shared sovereignty (Adler-Nissen et al., 2017), identity formation in response to the Brexit negotiations has several underpinnings. The Brexit negotiations have contributed toward reinforcing a common EU identity based on the idea that the UK has always been an "awkward partner" in the EU, tending to oppose European integration in many areas (George, 1994). The EU's unity in response to the Brexit divorce settlement is not likely to transpose to other third-party negotiations, and it may even be challenged when the future relationship between the EU and the UK is put on the table.