Short thread on the so-called EU’s flawed approach to #Brexit negs. 1. EU behaved like a polity-primary & most important objective was & is protect the genus-the collective. @BrigidLaffan

2. EU cannot call on the ties of history, culture & language & power resources that bind states. It has to manage deep diversity. This is done through a shared constitutional framework, common institutions, values & the glue of deep economic interdependence. @BrigidLaffan

3. Far too many U.K. commentators fail to recognise the importance of the SM as providing essential glue to the Union. EU rests on mutual vulnerability mediated by rules & agreed processes. The delicate balances achieve a level of unparalleled market integration @BrigidLaffan

4. The delicate ecosystem created by member states has transformed borders & mobility in Europe unlike anywhere else in the world precisely because enormous effort has gone into its achievement. Member states are bound together in a shared future @BrigidLaffan

5. UK has opted to leave EU to forge its divergent path-exit a choice not an imposition. #HMG has signalled strongly that it wants to leave core elements that make the EU work & deliver sufficient trust for the member states-SM, CU & jurisdiction of the Court @BrigidLaffan

6. Faced with this EU27 have a hierarchy of objectives-preservation of polity & acquis overrides everything else. Orderly withdrawal & as close a relationship with the UK as is compatible with the choice the U.K. has made to leave the Union’s essential structures @BrigidLaffan

7. #UK has some serious choices to make-how much friction in economic relationship with neighbours is it willing to endure in search for a different future. Rather than focus on the EU & its behaviour-have the honest debate on costs, consequences & trade-offs. @BrigidLaffan

8. Historically the EU has been very accommodating of U.K. & its integration preferences but there is no magical ‘third country’ status that allows the U.K. to leave the EU ecosystem & not have friction. @BrigidLaffan

Also analysts should stop using examples such as Ukraine or Norway that do not work. Brexit is about divergence or else why do it at all.