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Summarise the Article 50 TEU mechanism for a Member State to leave the EU.
Article 50 TEU sets out the procedure for a Member State to withdraw from the EU. It enables a Member State to withdraw from the EU unilaterally – the EU cannot prevent a Member State leaving the EU. However, the Member State must notify the European Council of its intention to withdraw (Art 50(2)), and it must comply with its own domestic constitutional requirements (Art 50(1)). The EU and the withdrawing State will negotiate an agreement setting out the arrangements for its withdrawal (for example, including a financial settlement). EU law will cease to apply to the withdrawing State on the date set out in the agreement or, in default of agreement, two years after the Member State notified the European Council of its intention to withdraw, although this date can be extended by agreement (as was the case with the UK).
Although Article 50 does not contain any express right for the withdrawing Member State to revoke its notice if it changes its mind, the Court of Justice in C-621/18 Wightman and others v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union EU:C:2018:999 held not only that it could do so but that it could do so unilaterally, without having to obtain the agreement of the EU or the other Member States. Article 50 does contain express provision for a former Member State to apply to the EU to rejoin it (Art 50(4)), but the procedure for such an application is set out in Art 49 TEU, which governs applications by third countries to join the EU - there are no special arrangements for former Member States.
Although Art 50 makes no direct provision for the future relationship between the former Member State and the EU, it does explain that an agreement on the future relationship with the Union must be negotiated in accordance with Article 218 TFEU, which governs the making of international agreements between the EU and third countries (ie non-Member States). Again, there are no special arrangements for former Member States.
Although at first sight the procedure set out in Art 50 appears relatively simple, the experience of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU which took over four years and a vast amount of time and effort (and thus money), demonstrates that this simplicity is an illusion.