Autumn 2018 issue: references, notes and quotes.
Worth also reading alongside Summer 2018 issue and references.
Index
Referendum and Remoaner Propaganda
World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreements and
Rules
Other
international agreements
-------------------------
UKIACE, ‘The Brexit Endgame’
on approval process
http://ukandeu.ac.uk/brexit-complex-and-lengthy-process-lies-ahead-new-report-finds/
Points
of contention
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1019387/brexit-news-eu-spain-gibraltar-michel-barnier
“While
Spain is for resisting the temptation to push its claims of sovereignty over
the key strategic island, it is keen to secure concessions. Spanish leaders
have made no secret of their wish to see more cooperation from Gibraltar when
it comes to taxation policy, with Spain’s Director of Customs, Pilar Jurado, in
April comparing the Rock to a “bad boyfriend” and branding it a tax haven.”
Brexit
and Governance of the UK-EU Relationship
http://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-8401/CBP-8401.pdf
https://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/CBP-8401
White
Paper on the Future Relationship between the UK and EU
EU
Withdrawal Agreement, as at 19 March 2018
(green
text is agreed in detail, yellow is agreed as an objective)
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/sites/beta-political/files/draft_agreement_coloured.pdf
European
Parliament resolutions
(Future
relationship)
London
talks tough but gives Brussels what it wants.
https://www.politico.eu/article/brexit-trade-customs-union-theresa-may-a-managed-surrender/
CAUTIONARY NOTE: LABOUR’S POLICY ON BREXIT SEEMS TO WOBBLE A LOT
Labour’s
“Six Tests”
Reality
Check: What is Labour's Brexit plan?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-45640548
When
you look at the tests it is hardly surprising that they are on course to be
failed, because of the way Labour set them out in the first place, as a way to
judge the final Brexit deal.
What
is being negotiated between the UK and the EU now is the withdrawal agreement -
the terms of divorce, rather than the precise detail of the future
relationship.
So
it's not the final deal, and that makes some of the tests rather hard to assess
fully at this stage.
Labour
manifesto 2017
http://www.labour.org.uk/index.php/manifesto2017
https://www.politico.eu/article/emily-thornberry-labour-could-vote-for-vague-brexit-deal/
The
U.K.’s opposition Labour party could back Theresa May’s Brexit deal in
parliament because the terms of the future relationship with the EU are likely
to be too vague to object to, the party’s foreign affairs spokesperson said.
Sir
Keir Starmer MP
Call
for ‘legally binding transition’
https://www.politico.eu/article/5-reasons-why-no-deal-could-mean-no-brexit/
https://labour.org.uk/press/pm-should-stop-pandering-to-the-no-deal/
“There’s
no dispute that Britain will leave the European Union in March 2019. Labour
voted to trigger Article 50 and we did so knowing that we would leave the EU
within two years. That means Britain leaving the European Council and no longer
having Members of the European Parliament.
“As
our election manifesto made clear, Labour accepts and respects the referendum
result and we will fight for a Brexit deal that puts jobs and the economy
first, and maintains rights and protections."
Sir
Bill Cash on transition
https://brexitcentral.com/theresa-may-now-needs-tell-truth-chequers/
Pascal
Lamy on FTA (‘2 years to 5-6 years’)
http://www.freetradeagreements.co.uk/projects/pascal-lamy/
Global
Counsel on ‘no deal’ scenario
What
if there's no Brexit deal?
http://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-8397/CBP-8397.pdf
https://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/CBP-8397
‘No
deal’ effects upon Germany
https://order-order.com/2018/10/09/no-deal-massive-crisis-eu-warns-germany-industry/
"No
deal" scenario not an option
http://www.eureferendum.com/blogview.aspx?blogno=86917
Larry
Elliott on ‘no deal’
“…Financial
markets think the same, putting the chances of no deal at 10%. This is a
reasonable assumption. The history of EU negotiations is that victory is
snatched from the jaws of defeat with an agreement made at the very last
minute. With the eurozone economy not in especially good health, there is no
real appetite in any European capital for a no-deal outcome.”
Karin
Kneissl on EU unity
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-45409188
EU institutions united on ‘Norway deal’
Dr
David Owen on the EEA as an interim measure before a free trade agreement
UK
staying in the EEA – Robin Walker MP
Termination
of EEA Agreement
Prof.
George Yarrow on why EEA will continue
https://capx.co/the-norway-option-is-a-realistic-quickly-achievable-brexit-solution/
https://capx.co/the-norway-option-is-a-realistic-quickly-achievable-brexit-solution/
https://briefingsforbrexit.com/there-is-a-no-deal-option-its-called-the-eea/
Guillaume
Van der Loo and Steven Blockmans
The
Impact of Brexit on the EU’s International Agreements
https://www.ceps.eu/publications/impact-brexit-eu%E2%80%99s-international-agreements
key
refs:
[7]
In the UK mixed agreements are designated as an EU treaty for the purpose of
the 1972 European Community Act. On the UK’s constitutional procedure to ratify
mixed EU agreements, see V. Miller, EU External Agreements: EU and UK procedures,
Briefing Paper, House of Commons, 28 March 2016.
[8]
Article 39 VCLT states that a treaty may be amended “by agreement between the
parties”.
[9]
In absence of such a clause, it may be argued that a third party can terminate
the agreement by invoking the ‘fundamental change of circumstances’ principle
of Article 62 VCLT. However, the International Court of Justice applies a
strict interpretation of this principle as it argues that “the stability of
treaty relations requires that the plea of fundamental change of circumstances
be applied only in exceptional cases” (Judgment of 25 September 1997,
Gabcíkovo-Nagymaros Project (Hungary v Slovakia)).
Publications worth a look
(High Court)
https://globalbritain.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/NIs-future-after-Brexit-Final.pdf
UKIACE report on exposure – ‘Brexit
and the island of Ireland’
Dr Graham Gudgin
https://policyexchange.org.uk/irish-border-and-brexit/
“A new cold wind has been
blowing from Dublin this week on the vexed issue of the Irish land border. The
previous Irish position of preparing for a technological solution to minimise
border disruption has been overturned.
Enda Kenny, Taoiseach until June, had implicitly accepted that a border
would be necessary, and had begun preparations, along with the British, to
minimise disruption. Quiet contacts had been taking place between officials
north and south of the border. As the new Fine Gael government team led by Leo
Varadkar has found its feet all of that has begun to change.
First the Irish Foreign
Minister, Simon Coveney, said that no border is acceptable. Another government
spokesman said that no technological solutions could make a border acceptable.
Then in Brussels last week, Leo Varadkar said that the border was Britain’s not
Ireland’s problem and that Irish work on technological solutions would cease.
Most strikingly he also said that the border should be moved to the Irish Sea.
What this implied was that no customs checks should be done at the land border,
which would remain largely as invisible as it does today. Instead customs
checks would occur at seaports and airports.
This idea apparently came as
a surprise to officials in Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs, and does
not seem to have been based on much thought or analysis. Such ideas are
incoherent and unhelpful. The EU27’s negotiating position on the border
explicitly states that the integrity of the EU’s Legal Order must be
maintained. This means a tightly managed border around the Single Market. The
May Government’s position is that Northern Ireland, as part of the UK, will
almost certainly be outside the Single Market. Border checks will thus have to
take place at the land border, not at Belfast, Larne or Warrenpoint. Indeed, it
is difficult to imagine what ‘a border at the Irish Sea’ would actually mean.
If Northern Ireland remained
within the Single Market but GB did not, then tariffs would be imposed on
Northern Ireland goods to GB. Since there is not the slightest chance of either
the DUP or the UK Government agreeing to such a scheme, Varadkar presumably had
something else in mind. Assuming that Northern Ireland will be outside the
Single Market with the rest of the UK, he nevertheless appeared to envisage
that any goods moving between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland
would be free of tariffs or other checks (such as those for animal health).”
https://www.leavemeansleave.eu/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Max-Fac-Works.pdf
The blind spots in the ERG
report
“Given that 80% of
cross-border trade on the island of Ireland is conducted by small and micro
businesses, the report’s failure to address the position of small businesses is
a serious oversight. The report makes two different suggestions without
considering the implications or the risks entailed
Requiring customs
declarations of all goods being transported across the border will be
prohibitively costly for many of the small businesses trading across the
border. As such, it would have the effect of putting a serious barrier to trade
between Northern Ireland and its most important export market.”
https://brexitlawni.org/library/resources/policy-report-peace-process/
https://brexitlawni.org/assets/uploads/Brexit-and-the-Peace-Process.pdf
“IRISH deputy Prime Minister
Simon Coveney dismissed claims a failure to secure a Brexit deal between the UK
and the European Union will reignite violence in Northern Ireland.”
Sammy Wilson MP, DUP Brexit
Spokesman
"The EU have been trying
to manoeuvre the negotiations to ensure that the United Kingdom as a whole
stays within the single market and customs union and have been using - or
abusing - Northern Ireland to try and bring that situation about," he told
the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.
"It seems that the EU
have made it quite clear that the only option they are interested in is
regulatory alignment which would either remove Northern Ireland from the United
Kingdom, separate us from our main market and politically create an issue where
we are separated from the rest of the United Kingdom, or else force the whole
of the United Kingdom to stay in the single market and the customs union."
Possible solutions and likely
opposition
https://www.politico.eu/article/5-obstacles-impeding-a-uk-eu-brexit-deal-theresa-may/
BBC Europe Editor on wording
fudge
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-43788080
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-44881335
Q&A: The Irish border
Brexit backstop, John Campbell, BBC News NI Economics & Business Editor
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-politics-44615404
“However,
the conciliatory tone of Barnier’s speech was striking and may help move
negotiations to the next phase. On Northern Ireland, he repackaged the need for
a backstop solution, spelling out the need for regulatory alignment for livestock
and agri-food. He said this was necessary for food safety and animal health
across the border and would allow farming to continue as it does.”
https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2018/07/michel-barniers-pointed-questions-point-to-no-deal/
“One
small ray of light for May arrived in Barnier’s comments on the backstop.
Although he stressed that not enough progress had been made on finding an
agreement on the Irish border, he did seem to soften his language – saying his
side were open to any solution.”
“Mr
Barnier promised to “delete” the backstop Northern Ireland plan if a trade deal
or British technological solutions solve the border issue”
https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/984889/Brexit-news-Michel-Barnier-Ireland-backstop-EU-UK-latest
https://brexitcentral.com/avoid-hard-irish-border-remain-outside-customs-union-single-market/
“Richard
Boyd Barrett, a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dún Laoghaire constituency, asked Mr
Juncker how the EU could be trusted on Brexit after turning Mediterranean Sea
borders “into a fortress”.
“We
don’t trust the Tories but can we trust you that there will be no border under
any circumstances?”
Mr
Juncker replied quickly with a firm “yes”.”
“The
European Union has reassured the Government that no physical checks will be
needed on the Border even if the UK crashes out of the bloc without a deal,
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said.
Mr
Varadkar said that such a “doomsday scenario” would mean that the “commitments
of others” would be relied upon to prevent a hard border.”
(speculation)
“Now Government sources say they are prepared for major confrontation with WTO
officials, who will insist on a Border with the North as part of strict trade
laws”…('It is understood')
EU
‘support’ in exchange for harmonised tax concessions?
“The
Government is facing the threat of European countries demanding concessions on
our tax regime in exchange for support in the Brexit Border battle.
A
renowned global news agency says some member states may press Ireland to drop
its opposition to wide-ranging corporation tax reform in return for such
backing.
Bloomberg
quotes an unnamed European official saying “solidarity doesn’t come for free”.
The
move is viewed as the first sign that some EU members expect a price in return
for commitments to Ireland in the Brexit process.
However,
last week European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker launched another
assault on our powers to veto tax matters at EU level.
...
The
low rate of corporation tax in Ireland remains an open sore in our relations
with the European Union.
...
In
June, as Mr Juncker reassured TDs of the EU's determination to avoid the return
of a hard border in Ireland after Brexit, he also urged them to drop opposition
to the digital tax. "Given the EU's unwavering support around Brexit, it
will be politically unsustainable for Ireland to be the sole blocker of tax
changes, the person said. Any tax proposal will need the unanimous approval of
all EU members before becoming law, meaning a single country could block
it," Bloomberg reports.”
[See
also ‘Single Market = Single Tax System?’ below]
“Despite
mounting evidence, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and the Minister for Foreign Affairs
Simon Coveney insist there's nothing to be alarmed about. Support for Ireland
is "solid" we're told. Leaks to the foreign media are dismissed. But
for those of us who watched the bailout unfold it is suddenly, and horribly,
familiar.
Eight
years ago, then ministers Noel Dempsey and Dermot Ahern were equally dismissive
of foreign media reports. Their successors should be wary of being so emphatic.”
https://www.oddschecker.com/politics/british-politics/2nd-eu-referendum
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/5163675/second-referendum-labour-john-mcdonnell-keir-starmer/
https://www.politico.eu/article/second-brexit-referendum-why-is-unlikely/
Deltapoll
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/7047947/british-voters-give-brexit-verdict/
Brexit
Delivery Group poll (“get on with it”)
Polls
on voter intentions in Mutineer/Remoaner constituencies - 4000 strong
https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1022074/brexit-news-remainers-eu-exit-chequers-conservative-party
Various
polls and research, Sir John Curtice
https://whatukthinks.org/eu/two-years-on-many-a-doubt-but-few-changed-minds/
“On
average in recent polls, only 7% of those who said they voted Leave now say
they would vote Remain – no more than the 7% of Remain voters who now say they
would vote Leave.”
"The
nation hasn't - yet - changed its mind firmly and for good".
“The
polling figures include people who did not take part in the referendum, so the
four-point gap is likely to be smaller if it came to a vote.
...
Sir
John [Curtice] said: “There is doubt that there is still a majority of support
for Leave but there is also doubt that actually a second referendum would
necessarily deliver a majority for Remain. Neither side could be sure of the
outcome given how close the polls are.””
Vote
Leave and Electoral Commission
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-45519676
https://brexitcentral.com/electoral-commissions-defeat-high-court-matters/
Remain
collusion, Priti Patel MP dossier
https://brexitcentral.com/priti-patel-dossier/
Evening
Standard, 8 Oct 2018
The
website claims 'soaring food prices' on the strength of a 'report' not publicly
available to check. https://www.standard.co.uk/business/soaring-brexit-food-bills-set-to-boost-discounters-aldi-and-lidl-bank-claims-a3956141.html
In
the printed version of the, but not online
'Brexit
may force us into sex work say students'
"Students
from the EU could turn to sex work to fund their studies after Brexit, a
student leader says.
The
Tower Hamlets Brexit Commission was told international students often take
"insecure" jobs for cash in hand because visa rules mean they can't
work more than 20 hours a week.
Ella
Harvey, of Queen Mary University students union, said it was now feared some of
the 1,700 EU students could be in the same boat after Brexit. She said
"Recently there was research about students increasing engagement in sex
work. It is worrying because often it is for survival."
- No
record of this 'research' could readily be traced, so by default it should be
regarded as lurid speculation.
Remoaner
Denis MacShane alleges BBC propaganda
https://infacts.org/bbcs-kuenssberg-spouts-brexiter-referendum-propaganda/
“A
typical piece of Brexiter propaganda is that a People’s Vote would be a trick
imposed on a hapless electorate by Brussels. Laura Kuenssberg, normally precise
and focused in her analysis, spouted this canard on the Today Programme this
morning (7.09am), saying: “The EU has form on this. If the leaders’ club
doesn’t like the result, you get the public to vote again until they do.”
...
Kuenssberg
is also wrong about other countries. When France and the Netherlands said no in
2005 to the EU constitutional treaty, that was accepted.” [sic]
Pro-EU
MEPs claim BBC bias
Counter-argument
by Guido Fawkes
https://order-order.com/2018/10/05/bbc-flagship-shows-still-remain-panel-bias/%20
EU
propaganda planned
https://order-order.com/2018/10/10/top-mep-proposes-billion-euro-propaganda-splurge/
Technical
Barriers to Trade (TBT)
https://www.wto.org/english/docs_e/legal_e/17-tbt_e.htm
https://www.wto.org/english/res_e/publications_e/tbttotrade_e.pdf
The
Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA)
https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/tradfa_e/tradfa_e.htm
Sanitary
and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS)
https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/sps_e/sps_e.htm
https://www.wto.org/english/res_e/booksp_e/agrmntseries4_sps_e.pdf
These
are all examples of ‘Annex 1A’ (to the WTO Agreement) Agreements. WTO's case
law notes that these predominate over basic WTO GATT rules in the case of a
conflict between provisions. Therefore an EU Customs Union (or Free Trade
Agreement) cannot be used to discriminate against the UK (or others) in favour
of its own members. It would count as a disguised restriction on trade.
Measures
in scope include not just technical product/produce regulations, but the admin
framework (e.g. registration, accreditation and approval, collectively classed
as ‘conformity assessment’.)
Such
procedures must grant access to suppliers under conditions no less favourable
than others
in
comparable situations. Where other suppliers’ measures are equally effective,
they must be accepted, even if they are different (and the UK’s won’t be
different on Brexit Day).
It
is difficult to imagine that the EU would refuse to admit on 30 March 2019 a
box of UK components from a batch produced fully to EU standards on 27 March.
SPS
uses very similar concepts to TBT. If an exporting country can
demonstrate that the measures it applies to its exports achieve the same level
of health protection as in the importing country, then the importing country is
expected to accept the exporting country’s standards and methods.
The
TFA Agreement requires customs processing to take account both of live risks
and any history of past checks.
[See
also ‘Border Inspection Posts’ below]
GATT
https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/gatt_e/gatt_e.htm
Find
decisions of WTO bodies concerning the GATT agreement in the Analytical Index —
Guide to WTO Law and Practice
https://www.wto.org/english/res_e/booksp_e/analytic_index_e/analytic_index_e.htm
https://www.wto.org/english/res_e/publications_e/ai17_e/gatt1994_general_jur.pdf
"In
the event of conflict between a provision of the General Agreement on Tariffs
and Trade 1994 and a provision of another agreement in Annex 1A to the
Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization (referred to in the
agreements in Annex 1A as the "WTO Agreement"), the provision of the
other agreement shall prevail to the extent of the conflict."
WTO
Waiver
https://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/glossary_e/waiver_e.htm
Waivers
and other exceptions
https://ecampus.wto.org/admin/files/Course_382/Module_537/ModuleDocuments/eWTO-M8-R1-E.pdf
https://www.chathamhouse.org/expert/comment/pascal-lamy-way-forward-after-brexit
‘Integrity
of the Single Market’ (sic)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-45696015
"EU
leaders have rejected her Chequers plan because they believe it would undermine
the single market by allowing the UK to "cherry pick" bits of EU law
it liked and ditch the rest."
“The EU has made great play
of its principled stance that ‘cherry picking’ of the best bits of the single
market is unacceptable. Her Majesty’s Government, for its part, has pointed to
what it sees as a problem with this argument. The Northern Ireland backstop
proposed by the EU would be a clear example of such cherry picking, given the
region would remain only in those parts of the single market necessary to
ensuring the functioning of the all-Ireland economy.”
http://ukandeu.ac.uk/chequers-deal-is-attempt-at-a-hybrid-that-britain-could-accept/
“For
all that the idea of the “integrity of the single market” has taken on a
theological quality in the Brexit debate, we should remember two things. First,
even within the EU itself, the four freedoms are not only divisible, but
divided. Second, this “integrity” is obviously negotiable — as the cases of
Switzerland and Ukraine illustrate all too clearly — for non-member states.”
http://bruegel.org/2018/07/the-eu-should-forget-its-red-lines-and-take-mays-plan-seriously/
“The
doctrine known as the inseparability of the four freedoms (for goods, services,
capital and labour) is not based on solid legal or economic foundations but it
has served as a basis for political agreement between the 27 and is embedded in
treaties with third countries like Norway or Switzerland.”
“The
free movement of capital has the broadest scope of all treaty freedoms. It is
the only freedom that goes beyond the boundaries of the EU internal market, as
it also includes capital flows between EU countries and the rest of the world.
...
Article
63 of the treaty on the functioning of the EU prohibits all restrictions on
capital movements and payments not only within the EU, but also between EU
countries and countries outside the EU.”
Single
Market = Single Tax System?
A
Fair and Efficient Tax System in the European Union for the Digital Single
Market
“Integrity
of the Single Market – Converging towards a common solution that avoids
unilateral measures that would destabilise the functioning of the Single
Market. Uncoordinated national measures will lead to fragmentation of the
Single Market, further distortions and tax obstacles that will prevent
companies from growing and investing in the Single Market.”
Border
Inspection Posts (now called Border Control Posts)
Switzerland
the
European Union and Switzerland – “Common veterinary space
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:22009D0013&from=EN (OJEU)
Decision
1/2008
"In
order to provide the resources needed for carrying out import controls on
products of animal origin from third countries, it is necessary for Switzerland
to be included,"
UK
Animal and Plant Health Agency
http://apha.defra.gov.uk/official-vets/Guidance/bip/manual.htm
http://apha.defra.gov.uk/documents/bip/manual/bip-manual.pdf
http://apha.defra.gov.uk/documents/bip/ovs-notes/2017-29.pdf (amendment)
http://ec.europa.eu/chafea/documents/food/food-border-inspection_en.pdf
DEFRA,
A description of the UK system of controls on imports of live animals and
products of animal origin and evaluation of its performance
“Auditors
from the Food and Veterinary Office of the European Commission concluded that
the UK has an effective control system on imports and transits in compliance
with the requirements of EU legislation.”
Customs,
Rules of Origin, the Chancellor’s ‘Diagonal Cumulation’
The
pan-Euro-Mediterranean cumulation and the PEM Convention on rules of origin
http://ec.europa.eu/trade/policy/countries-and-regions/countries/morocco/
“The
pan-Euro-Mediterranean cumulation system of origin was created in 2005. It
brings together the EU, Morocco, and other partners in Europe and the
Mediterranean to support regional integration by creating a common system of
rules of origin. Rules of origin are the technical criteria which determine
whether a specific product qualifies for duty free or other preferential access
under a given trade agreement.
Cumulation
of origin means a product coming from one partner country can be processed or
added to a product of a second partner country and still be considered an
“originating product” of that second partner country for the purposes of a
particular trade agreement.
The
pan-Euro-Mediterranean system allows for diagonal cumulation (i.e. cumulation
between two or more countries) between the EU, EFTA States, Turkey, the Western
Balkans, the Faroe Islands, and any countries which signed the Barcelona
Declaration of 1995. The system was originally based on a network of Free Trade
Agreements having identical origin protocols.
...
These
individual origin protocols are being progressively replaced by a reference to
the Regional Convention on pan-Euro-Mediterranean preferential rules of origin
(PEM Convention), which was established in 2011 to provide a more unified
framework for origin protocols.”
http://register.consilium.europa.eu/pdf/en/10/st09/st09429.en10.pdf
Barcelona
Declaration 1995, to which the UK is a party
http://eeas.europa.eu/archives/docs/euromed/docs/bd_en.pdf
“The
free-trade area will be established through the new EuroMediterranean
Agreements and free-trade agreements between partners of the European Union.
The parties have set 2010 as the target date for the gradual establishment of
this area which will cover most trade with due observance of the obligations
resulting from the WTO.
With
a view to developing gradual free trade in this area: tariff and nontariff
barriers to trade in manufactured products will be progressively eliminated in
accordance with timetables to be negotiated between the partners; taking as a
starting point traditional trade flows, and as far as the various agricultural
policies allow and with due respect to the results achieved within the GATT
negotiations, trade in agricultural products will be progressively liberalized
through reciprocal preferential access among the parties; trade in services including
right of establishment will be progressively liberalized having due regard to
the GATS agreement.
…
ANNEXES
Cooperation
will focus on practical measures to facilitate the establishment of free trade
as well as its
consequences,
including:
-
harmonizing rules and procedures in the customs field, with a view in
particular to the progressive
introduction
of cumulation of origin; in the meantime, favourable consideration will be
given, where
appropriate,
to finding ad hoc solutions in particular cases;
-
elimination of unwarranted technical barriers to trade in agricultural products
and adoption of relevant measures related to plant health and veterinary rules
as well as other legislation on foodstuffs;”
Spinelli
Group, Manifesto for the Future of Europe: A Shared Destiny
http://spinelligroup.eu/sites/spinelli/files/2018_manifesto_en.pdf
http://www.spinelligroup.eu/article/manifesto-future-europe-shared-destiny
http://www.spinelligroup.eu/article/constitutional-reform-sovereign-europe
Support
of President Macron's group, which is yet to be represented in the European
Parliament.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/sep/27/reinvent-europe-reclaim-promise-heal-divisions
Spinelli
Group, A Fundamental Law, coverage 2014
http://www.newalliance.org.uk/midsummer2014.pdf
Europe’s
copyright ‘reforms’ are all about the money
https://www.politico.eu/article/europe-copyright-european-parliament-voss-google-facebook/
UK-Germany
defence pact
“There is so much that
Britain does in terms of European defense that it is actually important to be
able to plug into the European Union,” [Defence Secretary Gavin] Williamson
said
Barnier
ambitions
https://www.politico.eu/article/michel-barnier-could-be-eu-trojan-horse-spitzenkandidat/
“Barnier,
the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, has long harbored ambitions for the
Commission’s top post, but announced Friday that he would not seek his party’s
nomination in order to remain focused on the talks with the U.K. However,
Barnier’s decision not to seek the EPP nomination means that the Council could
potentially draft him as a capable, and popular, candidate — presuming, of
course, that he leads the Brexit talks to a successful outcome — even though he
did not run as a Spitzenkandidat
...
In
his letter on Friday to the EPP president, Joseph Daul, Barnier didn’t state
that he is no longer interested in the Commission presidency. Rather, he
focused on the complexity of the Brexit talks and his intention to see that
“mission” through to its completion.”
Will
Podmore’s new book out, ‘Brexit: the Road to Freedom’
https://brexitcentral.com/introducing-brexit-road-freedom/
Resistance-specific
Glossary (PDF)
http://www.newalliance.org.uk/resglossary.pdf
Commons
Library Glossary on \EU
http://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/CBP-7840
BBC
jargon-busting guide
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-43470987
WTO
https://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/glossary_e/glossary_e.htm
EU
https://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/glossary_en
http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/glossary/institutional_balance_en.htm
NOTE FROM RESISTANCE, SUMMER 2018
There is no universal definition of the Single Market. The government
could claim that by leaving the EU, it had honoured a “red line”, even if it
stayed under similar arrangements in the EEA?
Whereas “the Customs Union”
can only mean the EU, this could be left, only for the government to sign up to
“a Customs Union” with the EU.
The Taxation (Cross-Border Trade) Bill sets up precisely this possibility!
This
page updated: 11 October 2018