Friday 16 Jun 2017 @ 09:17
Open Europe
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EEA membership for Brexit: viable in the short-term, but an unsuitable long-term solution

Amid suggestions the UK government should "soften" its Brexit position and reconsider maintaining the UK's place in the EU single market, Open Europe's Aarti Shankar argues EEA membership would not be a suitable long-term arrangement.

Following the UK’s snap election, where the governing Conservative party lost its parliamentary majority, analysts are suggesting that the Prime Minister may be forced to “soften” her Brexit stance.  While the concepts of “hard” and “soft” Brexit are unhelpful in their ambiguity, “soft” Brexit is typically connected with continued Single Market membership.  This is most obviously obtainable via a European Economic Area (EEA) style arrangement – also known as the Norway model.

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