Mete Coban and Stephen Kinnock MP, London Let young people have a say Europe and the UK after Brexit

Federico Fabbrini is Full Professor of European law at the School of Law & Government of the Dublin City University and the Principal of the Brexit Institute. He holds a PhD in Law from the European University Institute and previously had academic positions in the Netherlands and Denmark. He regularly engages with EU institutions and national governments and is the author, among others of “Economic Governance in Europe” (Oxford University Press 2016) as well as the editor of “The Law&Politics ofBrexit” (Oxford UniversityPress 2017). http://dcubrexitinstitute.eu/people/federico-fabbrini/

Photo:© AGENZIA 3P

ing one of the few military powers in Europe, it has hardly ever deployed its resources for the benefit of EU-led operations. So it is no small irony that when the UK is leaving – and when the EU, without the UK veto is finally pushing forward with the Permanent Structured Cooperation in defence (PESCO) – the UK wants to rejoin. A second paradox, however, is the fact that – as the openness of the EU institutions suggest – a special UK-EU partnership in the field of security and defence may well be reached. In fact, it actually seems more likely that the EU and the UK will be able to reach a deal in the field of security and defence – where interests in London and Brussels look deeply converging – rather than on trade. 7 This is quite surprising considering that defence is usually regarded as an area of ‘high politics’ – where agreement is more difficult than in trade, which is ‘low politics’.

Legal constraints and challenges The renewed interest of the EU and the UK in the field of external security and defence is welcome, particularly considering that the UK is one of the few European states meeting NATO spending targets. 8 However, this should not obfuscate the challenges that the development of a special partnership in these fields will pose. In fact, from a legal viewpoint, it is clear that the deeper the partnership, the greater the requirements for the UK to comply with the EU constitutional rules will be.

EU legal constraints: While simple dialogue and ad hoc cooperation between the EU and the UK would certainly be feasible, any effort to deepen it would meet EU legal constraints and inevitably bring up the interplay with the framework for future EU-UK relations applicable outside the field of CFSP and CSDP – including the contentious issues of internal market, procurement and competition rules, human rights protection and broader mechanisms for enforcement and dispute resolution. ECJ jurisdiction: Sanctions’ policy constitutes a perfect example of this. Targeted sanctions against individuals and foreign governments has become a primary tool of EU foreign and security policy in the last few decades, and the UK has been a prominent player in this field, with UK evidence underpinning on average roughly 50% of EU sanctions. At the same time, the Lisbon Treaty has now codified in Article 275 TFEU the ECJ jurisdiction regarding the review of the legality of restrictive measures against natural and legal persons. 9 Even in the field of CFSP and CSDP, therefore, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has a prominent role – which seems to clash with the proclaimed intention of the UK government to end the jurisdiction of the ECJ after Brexit. In conclusion, while it appears that both the UK and the EU are willing to work on a future external security and defence partnership, whether they are able to do so remains to be seen.

1 See further Federico Fabbrini, “Institutional Consequences of a ‘Hard Brexit’”, study commissioned by the European Parliament Constitutional Affairs Committee, May 2018. 2 Theresa May, Speech at the Munich Security Conference, 17 February 2018. 3 UK Government, Framework for the UK-EU Security Partnership, ppt presentation, May 2018. 4 European Parliament resolution of 14 March 2018 on the framework of the future EU-UK relations P8_TA(2018)69. 5 European Council Guidelines, 23 March 2018, EUCO XT 20001/18, §13. ii). 6 Luigi Lonardo, “EU Common Foreign and Security Policy After Brexit”, DCU Brexit Institute working paper No. 4/2018. 7 Joris Larik, “The New Transatlantic Trigonometry”, DCU Brexit Institute working paper No. 3/2018 paper No. 2/2018. 8 See Federico Fabbrini, “Do NATO Obligations Trump European Budgetary Constraints”, DCU Brexit Institute working paper No. 2/2018. 9 See further Federico Fabbrini & Vicky Jackson (eds.), Constitutionalism Across Borders in the Struggle Against Terrorism (Elgar 2016)

The future of Europe and the UK after Brexit Let young people have a say

by Mete Coban, CEO My Life My Say, and Stephen Kinnock MP, Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for a Better Brexit for Young People, London

23 rd June 2016, the day of the referendum on the United Kingdom’s (UK) membership of the European Union (EU) that supposedly divided a nation into many opposing factions: Remainers and Leavers, London and other-place, city and countryside dwellers. The most striking being the division between the younger and older generation. Indeed, whereas only a third of over 50s voted to remain, 18-24 year olds overwhelmingly voted to stay (75%).

The shock after the poll After polling day, many claims were made regarding the youth, such as their lack of turnout meaning they had no right to dispute the outcome, or that they were disenchanted with the process and had gained a ‘cannot-be-bothered’ disinterested attitude towards Brexit. These claims are countered by the voice of frustration from this same youth, who had an alternative message: young people will most likely feel the consequences of Brexit longer than any other age group and for this reason, should not be excluded from future conversations on matters concerning the EU referendum negotiations.

What do we want? My Life My Say (MLMS) and the All-Party Parliamentary Group for a Better Brexit for Young People (APPG-BBYP) endeavour to ensure young people have a say on their future within the Brexit negotiations, regardless of how or whether they voted. We strive to reject the claims of a divided post-Brexit nation, and are working towards cooperation for our common futures.

“We need vigorous debate about what kind of Britain we want in the future, and we need to be able to disagree and persuade.” Stephen Kinnock MP

My Life My Say, born in 2016, proudly champions the voice of 4.5 million young Brits in the Brexit negotiations. We are a youth-led, national, non-partisan movement on a mission to secure a better Brexit for young people by creating safe spaces for dialogue on- and offline, as well as carrying out research and advocacy work with decision-makers. Along with other events, MLMS’ Brexit Cafes taking place across the UK have been a salient tool in gathering opinions on the key issues affecting young people today. Through our All-Party Parliamentary Group for a Better Brexit for Young People, chaired by Stephen Kinnock, we have been able to create a bridge between young people and parliamentarians, enabling the youth to have a voice in the negotiations, as we believe this will secure a better Brexit.

A better Brexit for young people –how? In October 2017, in partnership with the London School of Economics (LSE), we published a report on young people’s priorities for the upcoming Brexit negotiations – based on findings

What has happened so far?

2017 29.03.

Triggering of Article 50 by the British government

22.05. 08.12.

Opening of the Article 50 negotiations (1 st

phase) The following negotiations focused on • citizens’ rights • the issue of Ireland • financial settlements

Opening of the 2 nd

phase of negotiations after sufficient progress had been made

What are the latest developments?

2018 28.02.

Draft Withdrawal Agreement published by the European Commission Compromising declarations on • citizens’ rights • transitional arrangements • financial provisions • institutional provisions and a protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland

Partial agreement on Withdrawal Agreemenwt EU and UK negotiators reached agreement on the legal text concerning: • citizens’ rights • financial settlement • transition period • separation issues

from a series of focus groups across the UK – that highlighted not only the generational gap, but also a distrust of many political and media institutions. Furthermore, the findings show that young people want to retain the same opportunities and rights that they have as EU members, and are worried about the rising discrimination and the harmful effects of potential anti-immigration policies. The priorities given by these young people for Brexit negotiations remain: improving education opportunities, economic growth, retaining inter-connectedness through international relations and generally a need for their voice and concerns to be listened to and acted upon by politicians and policy makers. The APPG-BBYP supported the report by its insight and recommendations, and has the potential to develop into a highly effective method of scrutinising government negotiations. This will enable it to influence the trajectory and outcome of Brexit, ensuring it corresponds to young people’s views for the future of the country. Dialogue is encouraged between parliamentarians and young people, and policy areas and issues can be influenced.

Our hope MLMS believe that the current proliferation of a discordant, resentful and divisive sentiment between generations is not conducive to the future of Britain. Our projects – notably launching the Common Futures Forum, which aims to bring together all the discordances named at the beginning of this article – illustrate the view we have that the sum of cooperation of a diversity of people will enable the best possible outcome for Brexit. In this way, policy makers, by not including the generation that will be the most affected by the outcome of Brexit, are doing themselves and the country a disservice. The future of Europe and the UK will be in the hands of the current young generation eventually: they should therefore not only work with them but somewhat allow them to become the ‘decision makers’ for a better tomorrow.

Stephen Kinnock MP

has been the Labour Member of

Parliament for Aberavon since 2015.

He is currently on the Exiting the EU

Select Committee and the EU Scrutiny

Committee, as well as being the Chair of

the Better Brexit for Young People APPG. Previously, Stephen was the Director Photo: www.mylifemysay.org.uk

and Head of Europe and Central Asia at the World Economic Forum, having worked for the British Council for more than 12 years.

Mete Coban

is the Chief Executive of My Life My Say

and the youngest ever elected Councillor

for Stoke Newington/ London Borough of

Hackney. He is best known for his work in

helping set-up the All-Party Parliamentary

Photo: twitter@metecoban92

Group on a Better Brexit for Young People. Previously, he worked on the Mayor of

London Sadiq Khan’s selection campaign leading on youth engagement.

“The UK government should provide young people with an officially recognised means to scrutinise and feed into the Brexit negotiation outcomes.” LSE report recommendation n°5

19.06.

Joint statement by EU and UK negotiators on further progress achieved since March 2018

23.06.

Demonstration with over 100.000 people demanding vote on final Brexit deal in London

29.06.

European Council (Art. 50) meeting reminding of the lack of substantial progress on a backstop solution for Ireland/Northern Ireland

06.07.

UK government agrees on common plan for future negotiations with the EU Inter alia, the government wants the UK to remain part of the internal market for goods but will not allow free movement of services, capital and persons

08./09.07.

Ministers David Davis and Boris Johnson resign over “soft Brexit” envisioned by Theresa May in the so-called Chequers deal from July 6th