In this AEI Events Podcast, leading experts join AEI’s John R. Bolton and Desmond Lachman to discuss the challenges and opportunities of Brexit after the United Kingdom elections. Ambassador John R. Bolton, senior fellow at AEI, discusses the EU’s “secular theology,” which argues the EU has brought peace and prosperity to Europe. David O’Sullivan, ambassador of the European Union to the United States, disagrees, asserting that the EU had allowed peaceful resolution of conflicts. He highlights that defining a post-Brexit relationship between the UK and the EU will take several years.

Adam Posen, president of the Peterson Institute, addresses the negative economic shocks the UK will face if, because of Brexit, it loses tariff-free access to Europe, its largest trading partner. Hugo Gurdon, editorial director of the Washington Examiner, pays tribute to the EU as a project for peace but argued that the UK’s history of constitutional stability and relations with the world, rather than Europe, means Brexit was the right choice for the UK. Finally, AEI’s Desmond Lachman emphasizes that the EU, especially the eurozone, faces severe economic problems associated with the risk of a breakup.