Ad
The Greenlandic exit also shows that maybe Europe has more experience with disintegration and disfunctionality than some tend to think

Column

The lessons of Grøxit

It is often said that the British were the first to leave the European Union and that the EU, because of its sole experience with, and focus on, integration, is not used to dealing with this kind disintegration at all.

This is, strictly speaking, not true: the Algerians and Greenlanders left the club already long before Brexit came along. Both had become members of the European Communities (EC), the EU's predecessor, as part of their colonial 'motherlands'.

In 1962 and 1985, resp...

Get EU news that matters

Back our independent journalism by becoming a supporting member

Already a member? Login here

Disclaimer

The views expressed in this opinion piece are the author’s, not those of EUobserver

Author Bio

Caroline de Gruyter is a Europe correspondent and columnist for the Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad. This article has been adapted from one of her columns in NRC.

The Greenlandic exit also shows that maybe Europe has more experience with disintegration and disfunctionality than some tend to think

Tags

Author Bio

Caroline de Gruyter is a Europe correspondent and columnist for the Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad. This article has been adapted from one of her columns in NRC.

Ad

Related articles

Ad
Ad