Reasons for the Negative Perceptions of Brexit by EU Countries

The purpose of this paper is to analyse reasons for the many negative perceptions of Brexit and fears for the way it could negatively impact various countries. The European countries felt Brexit was a bad thing. Are the reasons for this perception economically, politically, or soft-power related? One of the main issues is the fact that, being a strong power, and since everything is inter-related in a global world, some countries can be seen as dependent on others. The UK scored second place on the global soft power index in 2019, while in 2018 it occupied first place and its main area is in the domain of education. The paper will classify fears of countries based on their location and history, and understand based on their previous background and cultural mindset why they would fear Brexit. For example, an Eastern European country such as the Czech Republic had a percentage of 43% citizens afraid that Brexit could mean the European Union's end, as well as a strengthening of Russia and a weakening of the EU, and a pan-European economic crisis. Hungarians believed, in a percentage of 60% according to polls, that Brexit would have a negative impact on their country. Only in France there was just a percentage of 40% who believed that there would be negative impact on their country. France has ranked in 2019 on the first place on the soft power index. Romanians also feared Brexit and President Iohannis had to assure them that the Romanian economy will not be greatly influenced as a consequence of Britain leaving the EU. The methodology of the paper is that of a case study for groups of countries based on data coming from various polls and online data based on sentiment analysis on social media. The assumption is that the negative perceptions of Brexit prevail due to the EU crisis.