In his blog-post today (http://eureferendum.com/blogview.aspx?blogno=86640) the always excellent Dr. North draws his readers attention to a most worrying aspect of the Brexit situation: that there is a big big problem: Article 50 is fundamentally flawed.
As drafted, following a withdrawal agreement or after the two years, the existing treaties cease to apply. To put in place a transitional or interim agreement to reapply the treaties, a new separate treaty which would have to be agreed by and ratified by all parties would have to be put in place. This new treaty which could be described as a “bridging treaty” could only be contracted AFTER the UK had left the EU. In other words, it looks as if a “no-deal” Brexit is unavoidable!
There are however ways that this “no-deal” Brexit is avoidable!
They are:
1. Remain in the EEA and the EU’s customs union upon Brexit. Then over time – when the necessary infrastructure has been put in place – by the UK and it’s EU trading partners – leave the Customs Union and join EFTA thus achieving Flexcit.
2. Revoke Article 50 notification on the grounds that leaving is impractical and remain inside the EU until such a time that Article 50 is re-drafted into something workable and practical and hold at that point a second referendum to decide on the UK’s future in or out of the EU.
3. Suspend negotiations indefinitely, offer the UK to “stop the Article 50 clock” during the period the negotiations are suspended and during that time the EU 28 (including the UK) then re-draft Article 50 into something workable and practical and recommence Brexit negotiations after this.
To Brexiteers wishing to leave the EEA (Internal/Single market) as well as the EU then options #2 and #3 are the only two choices – other than the chaos and cost of a hard Brexit.
This really has turned out to be a Catch-22 or Kafkaesque situation!
Speaking the Truth unto the Nation
