Speaking to MPs in parliament’s Brexit committee, Christophe Bondy, who served as senior counsel to Canada on the CETA negotiations, agreed with indications from chief EU negotiator Michel Barnier that a trade agreement modelled on Canada was a “statement of fact” within the limits of the ‘red lines’ laid down by the UK government.
But he added: What it doesn’t do is achieve the sort of deep regulatory participation, harmonisation that the UK has experienced in the EU over the last 45 years.
The EU had several different approaches, Mr Bondy said, recalling the sliding scale set out by Mr Barnier in December (pictured above). Essentially these reflected a choice between a free trade deal, “where you have borders, and you have separate regulatory space”, a “rule taker” model similar to Norway which provides access to the single market, or full integration as a member of the EU.
He also rejected the suggestion that the UK would be able to secure a different deal because it was starting out from a unique position of regulatory alignment with the EU: I’ve heard many people say well it’s going to be easy because we’re harmonised — well that’s day 1. What about day 2, day 10 — that’s where the real issue is. For the EU you are either on the bus, or you’re in the sidecar with Norway, or you’re not. It’s a dynamic process going forward.
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