Article 50 Explained

​Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty sets out the formal procedure to be followed if a country wishes to leave the EU. It is short enough to be included here in full:

Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty
1. Any Member State may decide to withdraw from the Union in accordance with its own constitutional requirements.

2. A Member State which decides to withdraw shall notify the European Council of its intention. In the light of the guidelines provided by the European Council, the Union shall negotiate and conclude an agreement with that State, setting out the arrangements for its withdrawal, taking account of the framework for its future relationship with the Union. That agreement shall be negotiated in accordance with Article 218(3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. It shall be concluded on behalf of the Union by the Council, acting by a qualified majority, after obtaining the consent of the European Parliament.

3. The Treaties shall cease to apply to the State in question from the date of entry into force of the withdrawal agreement or, failing that, two years after the notification referred to in paragraph 2, unless the European Council, in agreement with the Member State concerned, unanimously decides to extend this period.

4. For the purposes of paragraphs 2 and 3, the member of the European Council or of the Council representing the withdrawing Member State shall not participate in the discussions of the European Council or Council or in decisions concerning it. A qualified majority shall be defined in accordance with Article 238(3)(b) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

5. If a State which has withdrawn from the Union asks to re-join, its request shall be subject to the procedure referred to in Article 49.

What Does It Mean?
As Britain has voted to leave the EU, the Government will need to declare the country’s intention to leave and trigger Article 50. At this point, a two-year period of negotiations between Britain and the remaining 27 states over the terms of the exit can begin. If a deal is agreed in these two years, Britain will leave on those terms. If no agreement is made within the two years, Britain automatically exits the EU unless the member nations vote unanimously to extend the window.

There are a few common misconceptions doing the rounds about this process. Firstly, we will not immediately find ourselves in uncharted waters. During the two-year period, all EU laws affecting Britain continue to apply, meaning we essentially remain members until negotiations are completed or we exit automatically. There would be complete continuity. Another myth that has been repeated many times is that Britain will not be allowed to take part in the negotiations. This is a misinterpretation of clause 4, which actually means that we wouldn’t be in the room when the EU is deciding its position in the negotiations; of course we will be in the room when the EU negotiates with us.

Nevertheless, Article 50 would give the remaining 27 member nations the bulk of the power in negotiations. If negotiations are not finished within two years any single nation could block extension of the window. And whilst unanimity is not required to agree a deal, only a majority, certain aspects of the deal such as trade arrangements would need to be ratified by all member states.

Other options?
The referendum result itself is not actually legally binding and places no obligation on the Government to trigger Article 50. Does this mean that Article 50 is avoidable? Boris Johnson recently seemed to imply that we could use such a result to negotiate a more favourable deal within the EU rather than actually leaving. In reality this seems highly unlikely. It would be akin to political suicide for the PM to try and avoid an exit, especially when so many within his own party genuinely wanted out of the EU. Cameron made his view on this clear in the House of Commons when he said that “If the British people vote to leave, there is only one way to bring that about, namely to trigger Article 50 of the treaties and begin the process of exit, and the British people would expect that to start right away.”

Despite this line from the PM, some still favour the possibility of negotiations outside of the Article 50 framework. As the Article 50 procedure puts Britain in a potentially unfavourable position, it could be beneficial if Britain could push its agenda on a more even playing field. Vote Leave in particular have been vocal about this, saying: “We do not necessarily have to use Article 50 – we may agree with the EU another path that is in both our interests.” Whilst this is a technical possibility, it is not a probable one for a number of reasons. First of all, it is not clear why any of the other 27 members would be open to negotiating outside of Article 50 and giving up the advantage that framework gives them. Whilst some may wish to limit certain other members’ abilities to push their pet peeves, and others may want to do some pushing in private, this is still an unlikely scenario when there are 28 parties invested in the negotiation. Secondly, there is no other legal framework to exit the EU other than Article 50. Vote Leave think we should leave by just repealing the 1972 European Communities Act, but there is consensus on both sides of the debate that this would be crazy. It would mean all of Britain’s treaty obligations would cease to apply, we would exit without securing any trade agreements and that the EU would immediately impose the common external tariff on our exports.
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In reality then, Article 50 looks unavoidable. It is not certain in a legal sense, so of course we could see some unexpected political manoeuvering, but the chances of our exit happening outside of the Article 50 mechanism is low. We should assume that as Britain has voted to leave the EU, Article 50 will come into play soon after.