{"id":1110,"date":"2017-09-26T16:45:04","date_gmt":"2017-09-26T15:45:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/uktpo\/?p=1110"},"modified":"2017-12-12T16:52:05","modified_gmt":"2017-12-12T16:52:05","slug":"transition-made-easy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/uktpo\/2017\/09\/26\/transition-made-easy\/","title":{"rendered":"Transition Made Easy"},"content":{"rendered":"Share this article: <\/em> \"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"reddit\"<\/a>\"pinterest\"<\/a>\"linkedin\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>

\"Erika\"\"\"Image26 September 2017,<\/em><\/p>\n

L. Alan Winters CB,\u00a0Professor of Economics and Director of UKTPO. Dr Peter Holmes\u00a0Reader in Economics at the University of Sussex and Fellow of the\u00a0UKTPO, Erika Szyszczak is a Professor of Law at the University of Sussex, independent ADR Mediator and a Fellow of the UKTPO.<\/em><\/p>\n

Now it\u2019s official. More than a\u00a0year after the UKTPO said that it would be necessary (see Briefing Paper 2<\/a> and NIER paper<\/a>), the Prime Minister has announced that the UK wants a transitional deal that preserves the status quo. Namely, membership of the Single market, a customs union with the EU, free mobility of labour, jurisdiction of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), budget payments and no external trade deals. Sad to say, this seems like progress.<\/p>\n

Despite the language and some of the press commentary, Britain is not \u2018opting for\u2019, still less \u2018agreeing to\u2019, a transitional deal; it is asking for one in the negotiations. The Florence speech<\/a> still uses the language of an \u2018implementation period\u2019. This implies that between now and 2019 the UK can both negotiate a final settlement to be implemented after the transition and the transition itself.\u00a0 But the Prime Minister has made no proposals about how to construct such a deal, other than that the UK leaves the EU on 29th<\/sup> March 2019, so that the transition requires agreement(s) between the EU (27 remaining members) and an independent UK.<\/p>\n

Once you start to think about how to do it, however, it becomes clear that negotiating a transition on UK terms will be nearly as complex as negotiating full Brexit. So complex, in fact, that it looks more or less impossible in the time available. Our analysis suggests that the only practical approach is to remain within the EU for the transitional period \u2013 that is, to extend the period of Article 50 by at least two years.\u00a0 Even this has to be agreed with the rest of the EU, but it will be easier to agree than a \u2018bespoke\u2019 transition.<\/p>\n

What are the problems in negotiating a bespoke transition agreement?<\/p>\n