Thread by @DmitryOpines

1/ Another day, Another pro-WTO article.

Most of what's in this has been critiqued elsewhere. I'm not going to blow my top this time in case PoliticoEU makes me a posterchild for expert rage again, but I do have some respectful questions for the author.

brexitcentral.com/wto-option-now…

2/ You quoted the Director-General of the World Trade Organisation saying two things:

One. The UK is a full Member and won't need to rejoin. Absolutely true.
Two. Brexit won't mean disruption.

That second one is a bold claim. Let's check your link!

3/ Oh, it's this @SkyNews article from 2016 with the utterly misleading title they said they'd look into changing but didn't.

Cool. Let's go to where he says this in the video (31 seconds).

"But it doesn’t mean that we’ll have a vacuum or a disruption. NOT AUTOMATICALLY"

4/ I can't help but notice the 'Not automatically' dropped out of your quote and the SkyNews headline.

Do you think that's perhaps misleading?

Is there a chance the DG was saying the WTO Rules won't themselves cause disruption... and not that Brexit will be disruption free?

5/ Let's move on.

You write the WTO Rules mean the EU must apply the same standards domestically and abroad, that the UK will be compliant and thus won't have a problem and that the 'DSS' can be used to resolve disputes.

Sounds fantastic. I have a question though...

6/ The EU has pretty clearly stated that for a range of standards which require certification by a testing facility in an EU Member State, they will no longer accept UK certificates.

Is there a WTO rule which requires the EU accept certificates it no longer consider valid proof?

7/ You have a lot of confidence in the WTO to keep the EU in line on technical barriers to trade and standards.

Here's a chart of concerns raised annually in the relevant WTO committee (TBT).

How many do you think get resolved quickly and to the complainants satisfaction?

8/ On Services, you wrote GATS means the EU must treat the UK the way it treats all other non-FTA Members.

My question is, what kind of market access do you think Kazakh truck drivers, bankers and insurance companies have to the EU? Worse than what UK has now, by any chance?

9/ You refer to the Dispute Settlement System as a way to address these issues in the event of a disagreement.

Can you please name some disputes on technical standards in which the WTO panel ruled for the complainant and the appellate body didn't overturn?

10/ If you're a business and you're reading all this, you have every right to be confused.

@SirSocks and @BrexitCentral write well, seem like they know what they're talking about and whose to say they are wrong and @JasonJHunter, @CoppetainPU, @StevePeers and I are right?

11/ My suggestion, in the humblest possible spirit, would be to in this order:

1st - Hope for a great, negotiated outcome between UK and the EU;
2nd - Hope that @BrexitCentral are right and it all magically works out;
3rd - Prepare like hell because they're not.