how article 50 works
article 50 is part of the lisbon treaty which was signed and ratified by all 27 member states of the european union in 2007 and came into effect in 2009 3 the article outlines how a member nation may leave the eu voluntarily as noted above the article states any member state may decide to withdraw from the union in accordance with its own constitutional requirements 1according to the article s text algeria left the european economic community after gaining independence from france in 1962 while greenland left through a special treaty in 1985 special considerationsarticle 50 became a subject of serious discussion during the european sovereign debt crisis of 2010 to 2014 when greece s economy appeared to be spiraling out of control in an attempt to save the euro and perhaps the eu from collapsing leaders considered expelling greece from the eurozone the problem they encountered with article 50 was that there was no clear guidance for pushing a member state out against its will nor was it necessary to remove greece from the eu just from the eurozone greece was eventually able to reach agreements with its eu creditors origins of article 50the european union began in 1957 as the european economic community which was created to foster economic interdependence among its members in the aftermath of world war ii the original bloc comprised six european countries the netherlands france belgium west germany luxembourg and italy they were joined by the u k denmark and ireland in 1973 the eu was formally created by the maastricht treaty in 1992 and by 1995 the bloc expanded to 15 members covering the whole of western europe from 2004 to 2007 the eu experienced its largest ever expansion taking on 12 new members that included former communist states 5the lisbon treaty was drafted with a view to enhancing the efficiency and democratic legitimacy of the union and to improving the coherence of its action the treaty was signed and ratified by all 27 member states in 2007 and came into effect in 2009 the treaty is divided into two parts the treaty on european union teu and the treaty on the functioning of the european union tfeu it has 358 articles in total including article 50 6the author of the provision did not originally see it as being necessary if you stopped paying the bills and you stopped turning up at the meetings in due course your friends would notice that you seemed to have left the scottish peer lord kerr of kinlochard told the bbc in november 2016 he saw article 50 as being potentially useful in the event of a coup which would lead the eu to suspend the affected country s membership i thought that at that point the dictator in question might be so cross that he d say right i m off and it would be good to have a procedure under which he could leave 7example of article 50the first country to invoke article 50 was the united kingdom which left the eu on jan 31 2020 8 it came after a majority of british citizens voted to leave the union and pursue brexit in a referendum on june 23 2016 leading british prime minister theresa may to invoke the article on march 29 2017 the process was mired by missed deadlines extensions negotiations and stumbling blocks put forth by both british and eu leaders may s attempts for an agreement were rejected by parliament negotiations were renewed by boris johnson who became prime minister after may resigned the country began an 11 month transition period immediately after its departure from the bloc after leaving the union there were no british officials in the european parliament and the u k lost its veto right within the eu but the two parties still had to work out a new trade agreement there were still many issues to resolve during the transition period including one big cause for concern was the issue of eu nationals migrating to the u k or vice versa prior to brexit an estimated three million eu nationals lived worked or studied in the u k while one million u k nationals did the same in the rest of the eu nationals were allowed to cross borders during the transition period but were afterward subject to visa requirements 9negotiations continued during the transition period despite many halts and roadblocks on dec 24 2020 the two sides finally announced a trade deal that would replace the eu s single market and its customs union with respect to the united kingdom the eu uk trade and cooperation agreement was signed on dec 30 and provisionally entered force on jan 1 however it was not fully ratified until the following april the new trade agreement fully entered force on may 1 2021 10