Brexit will END the EU unless remaining 27 nations negotiate as one, German academic warns
THE EUROPEAN UNION will cease to exist unless the remaining 27 states form one negotiating strategy over Brexit, a top German professor warned.
German professor: Brexit could end EU unless remaining 27 unite
Eva Heidbreder, of the Center for European Studies, argued Britain’s historic vote to leave the bloc posed a “crucial challenge” to the survival of the bloc.
She added that the surge in populism across the continent needed to be curtailed in order to secure the project’s future.
Speaking to the Geneva Hub for Democracy, she said: “Is the EU really about to explode? Not immediately, but there are crucial challenges.
The professor warned the EU to negotiate as one over Brexit
One challenge we’re dealing with is Brexit
“One challenge we’re dealing with is Brexit, Brexit indeed is a challenge for the EU because for the first time a country voluntarily wants to leave the union.
“But, there are procedures, there are ways of doing it, so this doesn’t need to escalate to a bigger crisis.
“As long as Germany and the other 27 states are arguing for their common interests and it doesn’t fall apart to 27 separate interests.”
Eva Heidbreder said Brexit was a 'crucial challenge' to the EU
The Berlin professor then turned her attention to the rise of Euroscepticism across the continent.
It’s after anti-EU politics, such as Marine Le Pen in France and the Five Star Movement in Italy, has swept across the bloc in recent years.
She said it was a “complicated problem” as Europeans were now failing to see “enough legitimacy” with being a member of Brussels club.
Angela Merkel has been urged to argue in favour of the EU's common interests
She added: “The member states need to work out how they speak about the EU, how the present it, how honest are you as a national policy maker about problems coming for the EU?”
Prof Heidbreder again said that it was a “task for all member states” to derive the idea that the bloc shared a “common goal” in areas such as reducing unemployment.
Meanwhile, earlier this week MEPs were warned that failure to get a grip on the EU’s social crisis would ultimately lead to its collapse.
MEPs fear MORE countries could leave EU over social crisis
European politicians gathered after a bleak report found nearly 20 million men and women were jobless across the continent.
Romanian MEP Csaba Sogor pointed the spotlight on the bloc’s growing divides between the rich and the poor.
He said: “This causes a vicious circle of extreme poverty, social exclusion, impairs health and poor education.”