Brexit negotiations after Florence speech

Friday 22 September 2017, the think tank CEPS started a new series of Future of Europe meetings with a talk by Martin Selmayr, the head of president Juncker’s Cabinet. The evening before, the president of the European Council (EUCO) Donald Tusk had invited the heads of state or government to discuss how to organise their work regarding the substance, method and objectives of EU reform and the future of Europe, when the EU27 leaders dine ahead of the Tallinn Digital Summit.  

However, despite the daily chores, plus the EU reform and future of Europe agenda, the EU27 face the prolonged UK withdrawal process since the EU referendum 23 June 2016.

Florence speech  

People dependent on English media saw little else concerning the European Union than the Florence speech, where the UK prime minister Theresa May asked for a two-year extension of parts of membership after 29 March 2019 - thus ending before the next general election 5 May 2022 - and a “creative” new EU partnership excluding membership of the customs union, the single market and the European Economic Area (EEA), as well as skirting the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) with Canada as a model. - To pay one’s dues (also during an extension) is hardly a new opening, but an obvious obligation.

Orderly withdrawal?

The day before the Florence speech, the EU27 chief negotiator Michel Barnier had spoken  about an orderly withdrawal and the expectation of clear commitments from the United Kingdom on the initial issues - EU citizens, financial settlement and Ireland - before moving on to a possible transition period as part of a potential  withdrawal agreement SPEECH/17/3404.  

Soon after May’s speech, which offered little clarity on the requested issues, Barnier published a statement repeating the demands ahead of the fourth round of Brexit negotiations STATEMENT/17/3427.

Monday 25 September, after the other agenda items, the General Affairs Council (EU27) has an opportunity to take stock of the Article 50 TEU Brexit negotiations and the implications for the European Council meeting 19-20 October 2017.

Come Tuesday, EUCO president Tusk is going to meet prime minister May in London.

Florence speech reactions

Any deal requires agreement by the EU27 member states and the European Parliament. Instead of the UK-centric debate, it may be more important to sample reactions to the Florence speech from the point of view of the 450 million people set to remain in the single market (EEA) after Brexit, all too easily forgotten by British media and politicians.

Many in the EU are disappointed. May seems to have spoken primarily to her own people and party, Welt N24 assessed, also reporting that Moody’s had downgraded the UK’s credit rating.

The German press reactions Focus has compiled are hardly impressed.

Europeans greeted May’s conciliatory tone, but were left hungry, is the summary of RFI.

The haziness persists. The silences are going to be studied more closely in the chancelleries than the promises, Le Point concludes.

All talk and no action, commented Roberto Castaldi in Il Tirreno.  

Among Brussels based media, Politico Europe summed up the EU verdict as good, but not nearly enough.

The quick analysis from Fabian Zuleeg (EPC) about the insufficiency of May’s Florence speech is worth reading.

Ralf Grahn

The essence of the EU’s internal market

What is the essence of the internal market, often (aspirationally) called the single market in English (although this distinction not made in all of the official languages of the European Union)?

Social market economy

Among the aims of the European Union we find “a highly competitive social market economy” in Article 3(3) of the Treaty on European Union (TEU):

3.   The Union shall establish an internal market. It shall work for the sustainable development of Europe based on balanced economic growth and price stability, a highly competitive social market economy, aiming at full employment and social progress, and a high level of protection and improvement of the quality of the environment. It shall promote scientific and technological advance.

Free movement x 4

Instead of being confined to the national markets, the factors of production are supposed to move without obstacles in the internal market. Article 26(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) expresses the goal in the form of four - not only one - freedoms of movement, also known as the four freedoms:

2.   The internal market shall comprise an area without internal frontiers in which the free movement of goods, persons, services and capital is ensured in accordance with the provisions of the Treaties.

Non-discrimination

Non-discrimination on the grounds of nationality is central to the tearing down of obstacles in the union generally and the internal market specifically. From Article 18 TFEU:

Within the scope of application of the Treaties, and without prejudice to any special provisions contained therein, any discrimination on grounds of nationality shall be prohibited.

CJEU

These basic principles, other treaty provisions and the rest of the EU legislation (acquis) have been brought to life by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU).

EEA

The European Economic Area (EEA) extends the internal markets to three of the four EFTA states: Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. Switzerland, the fourth member of the European Free Trade Area (EFTA), has more limited access to the internal market based on bilateral agreements with the EU.

Brexit

According to Eurostat the population of the internal market was 515,640,100 at the beginning of 2016 (EU + EEA). If Brexit means that the population of the whole United Kingdom (about 65 million) leaves the internal market (not only the EU, but the EEA as well), about 450 million would remain, somewhat smaller than the combined 480,516,824 population (2016 estimate) of the less integrated North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) countries Canada, Mexico and the USA.

 

Summary

The aim of the internal market, which consists of 31 countries with a total population of 515 million, is a highly competitive social market economy by the free movement of goods, persons, services and capital and the prohibition of all discrimination on grounds of nationality.

Ralf Grahn