European Free Trade Association Interim Option To Break Brexit Impasse - Campaigner

 European Free Trade Association Interim Option to Break Brexit Impasse - Campaigner

The United Kingdom potentially rejoining the same European Free Trade Association (EFTA) it originally helped create is being increasingly seen as a viable alternative to both the government's rejected Brexit plan and a no deal scenario, Hugo van Randwyck, co-founder of the EFTA4UK campaign, told Sputnik on Monday

LONDON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 19th March, 2019) The United Kingdom potentially rejoining the same European Free Trade Association (EFTA) it originally helped create is being increasingly seen as a viable alternative to both the government's rejected Brexit plan and a no deal scenario, Hugo van Randwyck, co-founder of the EFTA4UK campaign, told Sputnik on Monday.

"What I am seeing now is that there are people on both the Leave and Remain sides, who are thinking if they can't get any [Brexit] deal, then EFTA should be the default. So, they are saying if they have to make a choice between the withdrawal agreement, no deal and EFTA, then they prefer EFTA," he argued.

The EFTA is a regional trade organization, consisting of Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland.

"EFTA gives people seventy percent of what people voted for, in terms of Brexit, straight away. Speed wise, compared to the transition process in the current withdrawal agreement, an EFTA transition makes a lot more sense. So, EFTA is off the shelf. It's already working. EFTA is incredibly simple to do. And fast," van Randwyck stressed.

The UK helped found the association back in 1960, eventually leaving in 1972 to participate in the European Economic Community (EEC), itself a precursor to the emergence of the European Union.

Although EFTA's total membership currently stands at only four members, proponents say that rejoining will allow the United Kingdom to withdraw from the constraints of the EU Customs Union, thus settling Brexiteer aspirations of pursuing independent trade deals at a global level.

Advocates also claim membership could potentially alleviate ongoing difficulties surrounding the Irish "backstop" mechanism, given that EFTA membership would involve continued participation in the European Economic Area (EEA) and relatively frictionless access to EU markets.

Yet critics have claimed that EFTA membership is by no means viable for the UK even in the event of other member states agreeing to it. Writing in the Observer last January, member of the UK parliament David Lammy claimed a "Norway-style deal" would be a "lose-lose compromise" for the UK, with salient issues such as freedom of movement and emancipation from the European Court of Justice unlikely to be resolved.

Van Randwyck, however, told Sputnik that it was "not true" that EFTA states were unable to control immigration, instead stressing that member states actively controlled immigration via the normal rules of the EEA.

"Norway is very strict on these things, and in the actual EEA agreement it says if you've not found a job within three months you need to leave. And they implement that. Lichtenstein has a process where they've agreed to use Article 112 and 113 of the EEA for unilateral measures, so they control immigration," he said.

Van Randwyck thus claimed EFTA membership might constitute a palatable solution for both sides, otherwise wary of exiting the EU without a deal or endorsing UK Prime Minister Theresa May's rejected Brexit plan, the latter having been again defeated in the parliament last week by a clear majority of 149.

Although not as decisive as January's vote that saw the government's withdrawal deal defeated by 230 votes, the setback is widely viewed as being indicative of the prime minister's inability to garner sufficient support in both the House and her own Conservative party.

Advocates also regard EFTA membership as a means to exit EU institutions arguably dominated by sizable powers such as Germany, with the latter's considerable economic weight being said to undermine collective decision making to the detriment of other member states.

"The fact of the matter is that Germany has the biggest population and is the biggest grouping in the EU Parliament ... As you centralize power more and more in the EU ... you see greater centralization of wealth. In certain countries the wealth has been concentrated in fewer people, which allows them then to influence regulations that allow them to further centralize power and wealth. So it's a downward spiral," van Randwyck said.

He also stressed that the EU common voice was dependent on Germany's approach.

Last week, the UK parliament voted in favor of delaying the country's departure from the European Union and against leaving the bloc with no deal in place. This week, May is expected to bring her withdrawal agreement back to the parliament for a third vote.