1/ THREAD on Norway as a so called interim solution with the addition of a custom union with the EU @nickboles @pmdfoster @Simon_Nixon @StephenFidler1 @lionelbarber @JenniferMerode
2/ One should not understand the possibility of « a Norway model » for the U.K. as meaning for the U.K. to become a member of the current EFTA -EEA organisations with their present founding treaties.
3/ EU always presented a « Norway model » as a possibility for the U.K. if it accepted the four freedoms and all other obligations to participate to the EU single market.
4/ This was never considered by the EU as an interim/temporary arrangement in order for the U.K. to negotiate a FTA with the EU for the future.
5/ I personally think that any temporary EEA membership, which possibility is not provided by the EEA Agreement, would not be regarded positively by the three current EEA Member States.
6/ Recently, it was added in the margins of the negotiations that a model close but distinct from EEA could be considered also with some additions and in particular to become part of the customs union of the EU.
7/ This combination of SM+CU would allow a frictionless trade for the whole of U.K. and thus solve the Irish issue as long as this combination would be applied.
8/ Art 56(3) EFTA Convention as presently in force excludes the accession to EFTA of a new Member State aiming at a custom union with the EU : « Any State acceding to this Convention shall apply to become a party to the FTAs between the Member States on the one hand
9/ and third states, unions of states or international organisations on the other. ».
