Leaving the EU – a Futurus briefing by Anthony Scholefield

If we were in EFTA-EEA, we would go from participating as equals to being in the passive and subordinate position of having to adopt EU laws made almost entirely by others, and with no final vote, in the following areas, as listed in the Annexes to the EEA Agreement: Veterinary and Phytosanitary Matters, Technical Regulations, Product Liability, Energy, Free Movement of Workers, Social Security, Recognition of Professional Qualifications, Right of Establishment, Financial Services, Services in General, Electronic Communication, Audiovisual services and Information Society, Free Movement of Capital, Transport, State Aid, Procurement, Intellectual Property, Health and Safety at Work, Labour Law and Equal Treatment for Men and Women, Consumer Protection, Environment, Statistics, and Company Law.

In your paper, you say that ‘80% of legislation relates to matters outside the Single Market’. The number of legislative acts is of very little relevance. In 2008, there were 5524 Directives and Regulations in force in the Agriculture and Fisheries sectors, and 55 in the Energy sector. (http://bit.ly/220jyTD) Is the latter one hundred times less significant in the national life? The former are excluded from the EEA Agreement, so just counting the number of acts gives a misleading impression of what proportion of EU law we would still be under.

Andrew

Leave means Leave. The Referendum was clearly billed by David Cameron publicly as an “In/Out” referendum. This was it – once and for all – no going back. Of course he expected to win ! The Single Market is an EU mechanism and recalcitrant businesses are attempting a compromise for which there is no popular mandate. The only negotiation needed is for an orderly extraction, eg timetable for withdrawing UK contributions/UK receipts; clarifying the position of each others nationals living in UK and EU. The process of extraction should not be the excuse the Remain camp is seeking to complicate the issue, extend our remaining and, if possible, frustrate the popular mandate for Leaving the EU. Too many technical issues being cited to muddy the waters and avoid the essential issue: LEAVE !

The problem with membership of the EEA is that it would still leave us far too closely tied to a project which is manifestly failing. The EU cannot resolve any of the existential crises it is facing, and shows no sign of ever being able either to agree on what action to take or to implement anything it decides on. It cannot solve the migration crisis or its accompanying terrorist crisis. The Eurozone lurches from one crisis to another, bringing high total unemployment, long term unemployment and youth unemployment to many of its member states. There is no future in the EU for any of its member states. We need to detach ourselves from it as soon as we can, before the inevitable collapse. So do the other member states. We can show them the way out, so that they can start to develop their own future, away from the suffocating blanket of the EU.

All leavers in my acquaintance I know are agreed that we need to extract ourselves totally from the EU’s failing political project and all are equaly agreed that the EEA/EFTA option is not the long-term model for us. However, total extraction isn’t going to be quick and easy, as David Davis recently admitted. EEA/EFTA at least will enable us to conclude the Article 50 talks within a reasonable timespan, and by applying Articles 112 and 113 of the EEA ageement, we can begin to exercise more control over our borders as soon as we’re out. It is most certainly not ideal and if this is the route the government chooses, we will need to ensure that pressure is kept up not to leave the UK stuck in this unsatisfactory halfway house.

One other factyor, however, is that the EEA/EFTA option enables us to complete the Article 50 negotiations by the end of 2019, it spikes the guns of those remainiacs in the Labour and Lib Dem parties who want a second referendum if they win power in 2020. Admittedly, this looks unlikely, given thecurrent state of both those parties.

The bottom line is that it’s Mrs May’s government, not us, who will choose our exit route. We can debate the subject ad infinitum, but we have very little influence. I just hope her ministers know what they are doing!