After Brexit…The Best of Both Worlds? Rebutting the Norwegian and Swiss Models as Long-Term Options for the UK

Abstract

On 23 June 2016 the UK held a referendum on EU membership; with a slight majority the ‘Brexit’ option won. Since then, political and economic uncertainty have prevailed regarding the structure of the future long-term relationship between the UK and the EU. Two widely cited alternatives before and after the referendum, presented as offering the best of both worlds , are the EEA or ‘Norway model’ and the negotiated bilateral agreements path or ‘Swiss model’. This article builds on and complements the scarce existing literature in order to inquire whether these two models would be feasible in the UK–EU framework and would suit the former’s expectations for this new relationship. To this end, the main features of the ‘Norway model’ and the ‘Swiss model’ are analysed mainly through the lens of the guiding principles for the establishment of the new partnership with the EU referred to by HM Government in its February 2017 White Paper. The conclusion is that, notwithstanding granting market access to a greater or lesser extent and freedom to secure free trade agreements with third countries, these models would still require the UK to make contributions to the EU budget and to be broadly subordinated to the EU in the area of immigration control. Regarding the impera-tive principle of the UK to take control of its own laws, the ‘Swiss model’ would arguably be less constraining than the EEA model; however, its current configuration would probably be impracticable in the UK-EU context.