Post-Brexit: The Time for “Wait and See” has Passed

Martin KOOPMANN Managing Director of the Genshagen Foundation The British vote for Brexit has sent a wave of panic across the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe. We now need to learn from the people’s disaffection with the European Union, and move forward. Bringing European politics back to square one is not an option. In the aftermath of Brexit, some are suggesting that we start the European integration process over to free ourselves at last from the “monster” that the European Union has become, to quote a German euro-critic following the British vote. There is no going back, but the division runs deep. We should have been better prepared for 23 June 2016: British voters have done no more than push to the extreme a growing sense of alienation between the people and European politics, which first became apparent in 1992 when France and Denmark held their own referendums