The EU deal to avoid Brexit: Is it legally binding?

One of the fiercely debated questions during the European Council summit of 18/19 February 2016 was whether the changes in the UK’s renegotiated settlement with the EU are legally binding. This follows on from the Prime Minister Cameron’s demand that some of the concerns listed in his letter to European Council President Tusk should be addressed by means of an instrument in a “formal, legally binding way’’.

Paragraph 3 of the European Council conclusions seems to leave no doubt: “this Decision is legally binding” and “gives legal guarantee that the matters of concern to the United Kingdom as expressed in the letter of 10 November 2015 have been addressed”.

In reality, the legal picture is more nuanced though.