LSE in Brussels: “Britain and Europe: Towards Brexit”

December 9, 2016

On the occasion of the European Institute’s 25th anniversary LSE hosted in Brussels the “Britain and Europe: Towards Brexit” event on 8 December with the participation of distinguished LSE professors and hundreds of alumni from Belgium and beyond.

Interim Director Julia Black opened the first session of the event and stressed in her speech the importance of the European Institute’s work given the challenges ahead. Professor Sara Hobolt, Sutherland Chair in European Institutions, European Institute and Christopher Wratil, PhD candidate at LSE then presented their research project focusing on explaining the Brexit vote. They were followed by Professor Niamh Moloney, Professor of Law who during her speech on the legal aspects of passporting, expressed fears that there will be a global clamour to deregulate after Brexit. Assistant Professor of Law Edmund-Philipp Schuster closed the first session of the day with a presentation of study on the Law Applicable to Companies, prepared for DG Justice.

After lunch, it was the time for keynote speaker Professor Danuta Hübner PhD, to take the floor. The Chair of Committee on Constitutional Affairs at the European Parliament confirmed the desire of the EP deputies to care first and foremost about the people during the Brexit negotiations.

The next research project was on climate change policy in Europe and the UK which was presented by Professor Samuel Fankhauser, Co-Director of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment and Dr Maria Carvalho, Policy Analyst, Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change & Environment (GRI), LSE. Then, during her presentation on inequality, Professor Simona Iammarino, Professor of Economic Geography and Head of Geography and Environment stated characteristically that "London is open for business, but regional inequalities across the UK are increasing massively".

The last session was a panel discussion dedicated to the impact of Brexit. Interim Director Professor Julia Black was the first to address the audience with a celebratory speech on the 25 years of the European Institute. She was followed by Professor Iain Begg, Professorial Research Fellow at the European Institute. Professor Begg offered a pessimist view of the road ahead, stating that "the risk is that the economic resilience that the UK has shown so far will simply fall of the cliff" and estimating that the Brexit “divorce” may cost as much as 60 billion euro. Dr Jennifer Jackson Preece, Associate Professor of Nationalism, offered a different point of view to the Brexit debate, as she focused on the role of online imagined communities on Brexit. Professor Paul De Grauwe, John Paulson Chair in European Political Economy at the European Institute, LSE, seemed more optimistic for the future of Europe, arguing that Brexit has created a potential for further EU integration. Professor Tony Travers, Director of LSE London and Visiting Professor in the Government Department, stated that the Brexit vote was “a binary vote on a non-binary issue” and wondered what will happen if the change that the people voted for cannot be delivered.

The event closed on a celebratory note, as professors and alumni alike came together for the European Institute 25th anniversary networking drinks.

The LSE Alumni Association Belgium was also present at the event and live tweeted throughout the day. You can follow us on Twitter at @LSEAAB. You can here the podcast from the event here and the photos here.

Report by: Ariadne Kypriadi