Abstract

Starting out from considering the recent development of Brexit as secessionist movement, the essay investigates into the meaning of the right of withdrawal within a non-state federal community like the European Union. After having analyzed the difficulties raised in the discussion of art. 50 TEU about the right of withdrawal interpreted as constitutional right for the European Union, the essay shows why this right might have the positive function of enhancing the political plurality and of conceiving of a structurally plural political unity. To acquire this function, the withdrawal right requires to be decoupled from the concept of sovereignty and to be considered in its relation to the purposes which justify the creation of the federal union.