6 ms·
Yes, the EEC/EC was officially abolished with the Lisbon treaty in 2009 (though it was mostly merged into the EU even before then). However, it's still possible
by _delirium 14y ago
Yes, the EEC/EC was officially abolished with the Lisbon treaty in 2009 (though it was mostly merged into the EU even before then). However, it's still possible for non-EU members to be part of the EU's common market via the EEA (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Economic_Area http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Economic_Area).
EEA membership is pretty close to de-facto EU membership, though, including legislative harmonization on almost everything except agriculture/fisheries (which is what suits Norway about it), and a "voluntary" contribution that de-facto replaces EU dues. Would that satisfy UK politicians' reasons for pulling out of the EU, if they still had to pay dues and harmonize most of their legislation anyway, only without getting a vote in return? It's not clear to me they would join the EEA under those terms. And in the other direction, there's a lot of uncertainty over what they'd even have the option to join, since there's a real possibility some EU members would veto an agreement to give them an intermediate status.
- arethuza 14y agoThat page on the EEA seems to imply that members have to stick to EU laws - particularly around freedom of movement, which is one of the main reasons some UK politicians are keen on leaving the EU. Personally, I think that any move to leave the EU would probably contribute to a break up of the UK.
- arrrg 14y agoIt's absolutely non-sensical to want to be part of a common market but to not do what's necessary to actually create a common market. You can't cherry pick what you want. Freedom of labor (which necessitates freedom of movement) is just as much part of a common market as freedom of capital is. If the UK wants to leave the EU but, for example, keep freedom of capital they will be told off. If they don't want to accept some harmonization process of laws (which is necessary or else it's real simple for individual governments to erect barriers in the market) they will be told off. If they are out of the common market they are out. You can't be half in and half out. And good riddance to them.
- arethuza 14y agoThere are lots of people in the UK who want to remain in the EU - and I'm one of them. I hope that if it looked like the UK was going to leave the EU then Scotland would leave the UK and (re)join the EU.
- gadders 14y agoThere are plenty of free trade agreements that don't rely on this harmonisation. Unfortunately the EU is set on a course of political union, which I think the majority of the UK would not want to be part of.
- arrrg 14y agoFree trade agreements do not create common markets. (Well, they can, but if they do they include some sort of harmonization of relevant laws). Plus, the UK already excludes itself from practically all non-common-market activities of the EU. They aren't participating there anyway. I also think you are confused about what creating a common market entails. It necessitates common political decisions. The common sticking point of freedom of movement is not some nice to have thing. Without it there can be no common market. Likewise, the harmonization of (relevant) laws is not some nice to have thing. That's hard political work that has to be done to reach the goal and doing it without a political structure on the EU level is unrealistic. (You can't have consensus-based negotiations about the minutiae of safety regulations for wine harvesters between heads of state.) If that's too much for the UK to deal with then that's fine with me. The rest of the EU will do fine withput them. If the UK wants free trade agreements they can have that. They can't, however, have parts of the common market they like but not those they don't like.
- rmc 14y agoI think that any move to leave the EU would probably contribute to a break up of the UK. But that's already happening. Ireland left in 1922. Scotland was guaranteed a referendum well before this UK/EU referenedum.