Just as in the Eurovision Song Contest, the operations of the Council of the European Union have traditionally been underpinned by various alliances and regional blocs who would tend to cooperate with one another.  Before the UK left the EU these alliances were often based on geographic proximity, but new research from the University of Gothenburg suggests that since the vote they have become more ideologically oriented.

The Council of the European Union consists of government ministers from each of the member states.  They make decisions on the various proposals for laws put forward by the European Commission.  The authors highlight that the ministers who meet tend to reflect the topics being discussed, with member states historically cooperating with their nearest neighbors most commonly.

What impact did Brexit have on this cooperation?  The research examines cooperation among the Council members before and after the Brexit vote.  The authors were testing the hypothesis that member states with similar political and economic systems are likely to have similar interests in EU negotiations.

Ideological alignment

“The results indicate that member states with more similar economic and political systems also have stronger partnering relationships and that the effect of this is as significant before as after the Brexit referendum,” the researchers explain. “This provides a first indication that these similarities could be an underlying cause of the stability of partnerships between member states over time, and that they follow geographical patterns.”

The ideological differences between governments were measured according to three unique dimensions: GAL-TAN (green, alternative, libertarian and traditional, authoritarian, nationalist), economic left-right, and the overall attitude towards European integration.

“Before the Brexit referendum, none of these ideological dimensions had any effect on relationships between member states. But after the referendum, both the GAL-TAN dimension and attitude to European integration have had an impact on cooperation,” the researchers explain. “Member states that are ideologically similar on these dimensions have cooperated more closely in the period after it became clear that the United Kingdom was going to leave the EU.”

While the research isn’t able to clarify the precise cause of this change, it is nonetheless inevitable that the remaining member states would have had to adapt their relationships as a result of the departure of the United Kingdom from the bloc.

“With the United Kingdom’s withdrawal process in progress, EU cooperation has also landed in the political spotlight more generally. This could be a contributor to a more ideological logic behind the new relationships that are established when a member state disappears,” the researchers conclude.