An EEA kind of Brexit ?

The expert group PM Cameron established some days ago to look at possible Brexit alternatives will of course not be able to present a thick report as a welcome gift to the new PM tomorrow. But to show some ideas and possibilities with pros and cons can also be helpful as a starting point for further exploration. An acceptable solution should include three elements: EU-exit (i e invoking Article 50, access to internal market an national immigration control. To achieve this might be overly optimistic, or perhaps not.

Richard North at EU referendum has discovered that the safeguard measures in EEA-Article 112 (the "emergency brake") has been used several times for opt outs to the four freedoms, among them Lichtenstein (movement of people opt out) and Iceland (movement of capital opt out). Switzerland used Article 112 (measures to limit immigration), but its agreement was rejected in a referendum. The European Commission has also invoked Article 112 on its own account, making trade in salmon of Norwegian origin conditional upon observance of a floor price. While the Article 112 allows EFTA-countries unilaterally to take appropriate actions, EU member states have to rely on the Commission to take action.

North argues that if UK can be accepted as a member of EFTA, it can slide from EU to EFTA and still be a member of the EEA. As an EFTA member the UK is then entitled to unilaterally invoke Article 112.

But what about UK´s possibilities to influence the rules of the internal market without taking part in the EU´s decisionmaking process ("fax"-democracy) ? A policy paper from Fondation Robert Schuman argues that the UK "could explore the opportunity to revise the EEA rules so that the non-EU members ...have a right to vote .. in policies in which they participate, notably those involving the single market. In this scenario the UK would continue to participate in the internal market and apply the corresponding rules". It would also have to contribute to the EU-budget.

There are of course huge uncertainties about an EEA kind of Brexit, but a closer look might open new options - also for the EU and other countries within and outside the EEA-agreement.