A basic agreement should include a free trade pact, an agreement on maintaining an “equal playing field” of rules and standards guaranteeing fair competition, and a governance structure to further expand relations. An agreement is expected by mid-October to allow time for the treaty to be transposed into the EU`s 23 official languages and the possible need for ratification by the bloc`s parliaments before the end of the year. What should a future trade agreement between Britain and the EU look like? Recently, the EU has tried to contrast a free trade agreement with something deeper and broader. If the UK wants a “quick” deal, according to the EU, it must be of the nature of the “naked bones”: a simple no-tariff and no-quota deal. A deeper and more comprehensive agreement, as we are told, will take much longer and will require many potentially uncomfortable compromises on the British side. That is why the EU argues that the UK must be prepared to extend the transition period, perhaps for many years, if it wants the supposedly greater benefits of a comprehensive and comprehensive free trade agreement. Don`t be fooled. The EU`s intention is the same as it has been since the beginning of the Brexit process – to try to involve the UK in a submissive economic status and preserve it as a “prisoner market” for EU goods. The potential additional benefits of a “deep and comprehensive” trade agreement over a more fundamental agreement are quite limited and, in any case, the EU has little intention of negotiating such an agreement, at least as the UK has understood.
Let us first examine the EU`s motivations and, in an abstract way, it seems sensible that future relations between the EU and the UK should enjoy trade freedom equal to that which is reasonably compatible with separate legal systems and independent trade and regulatory policies. But from the EU`s point of view, this is not the case in future discussions on relations. As deposed recently by Dexeu`s former special adviser, Raoul Ruparel, the EU has told British negotiators that future relations “have nothing to do with economic rationality.” On the contrary, the MAIN objectives of the EU are to attract as many financial resources as possible from the UK. Either by continuing to support the United Kingdom in the UK coffers under a trade agreement, or by extending the transition period as long as possible. Or, ideally, both. Linking the UK to a dynamic and sustainable alignment of EU legislation. Looking at the EU`s discussions on future relations, it is increasingly striking that EU governments (mainly, but not exclusively France) seem to be afraid that a Britain, which can set its own rules, will overtake the EU and take away jobs and investment.
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