Hamilton Crawford: EU Reiterates Single Market Warning to UK

Shanghai, China, July 19, 2017 (Newswire.com) - Hamilton Crawford: The European Union’s chief Brexit negotiator has warned that the United Kingdom will not be able to retain the trade benefits should it decide to end the customs union as part of its departure from the European Union. Addressing an EU business forum in Brussels late last week, Michel Barnier also warned that Britain would have “more to lose than its partners” if it chose a “no deal” exit from the trading bloc.

The UK voted to leave the European Union last year in a landmark referendum which plunged the trading bloc into an existential crisis that saw 2017 begin with concerns that elections in the Netherlands, Austria, and France would reveal an anti-establishment movement among EU citizens.

The EU has been emboldened by the results of elections in Austria, Holland and France and are approaching the Brexit negotiations from a position of considerable strength. Theresa May, however, is coming to the negotiations with a far weaker mandate after a dismal performance in the June 8 election in which she lost her parliamentary majority to a resurgent Labour Party running on an anti-austerity platform.

Hamilton Crawford, Researcher

Those concerns have largely been proven to be unfounded with elections in all three countries returning pro-EU political parties to power with their majorities largely intact.

“The EU has been emboldened by the results of elections in Austria, Holland, and France and are approaching the Brexit negotiations from a position of considerable strength. Theresa May, however, is coming to the negotiations with a far weaker mandate after a dismal performance in the June 8 election in which she lost her parliamentary majority to a resurgent Labour Party running on an anti-austerity platform,” explained a Hamilton Crawford researcher.

Many political commentators have suggested that it might be possible for Britain to leave the EU and the single market while preserving access to the single market for its exports. Mr. Barnier has made it clear that this is impossible.

“One can hardly argue with the EU’s position on this. If Britain were allowed to keep the advantages of being able to access the single market while shirking the responsibilities that come with that membership – such as free movement of people and capital – surely every remaining EU member would leave the trading bloc and try to arrange a similar deal,” said the Hamilton Crawford researcher.

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Source: Hamilton Crawford