Brexit and Power in the Council of the European Union

László Á Kóczy

doi:10.3390/g12020051

Abstract

The exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union has had profound economic and political effects. Here, we look at a particular aspect, the power distribution in the Council of the European Union. Using the Shapley–Shubik power index, we calculate the member states’ powers with and without the United Kingdom and update earlier power forecasts using the Eurostat’s latest population projections. There is a remarkably sharp relation between population size and the change in power: Brexit increases the largest members’ powers while decreasing the smallest ones’ powers.

Highlights

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Our goal is not to provide a comprehensive review of such likely effects: we look at the consequences of the Brexit on the voting in the Council of the European Union, better known by its former name, the Council of Ministers
A power index indicates the voters’ cuts from the budget as Kauppi and Widgrén [8] found for historical data

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Introduction

Citation: Kóczy, L.Á. Brexit andPower in the Council of the EuropeanUnion. Games 2021, 12, 51. https://doi.org/10.3390/g12020051Academic Editor: Maria MonteroReceived: 9 Aril 2021Accepted: 11 June 2021Published: 21 June 2021Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.Attribution (CC BY) license (https://

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