1/THREAD on EFTA & the EEA Agreement
-EFTA is an intergovernmental not supranational structure; one of the two independent separate jurisdictions implementing the EEA Agreement.
-EEA Agreement is not an EU treaty. It’s a separate body of international law and own legal order.
2/ -🇳🇴🇮🇸🇱🇮 can (1) accept reject or request amends via the EEA Joint Commitee and/or (2) refuse to place it into their national law without which they are not bound by it.
-In response the EU either makes changes or takes proportionate countermeasures. Usually they make changes
3/ -EFTA court “gives regard to” ECJ rulings but not obliged to follow it (except pre-EEA Agreement law, ie before 1992)
-As a member 🇬🇧 would have 1 in 4 of the judges on the EFTA court. Its hearings are in English.
4/ - 🇳🇴🇮🇸🇱🇮 make NO contribution to the EU budget but pay the costs of participation on joint EU projects. They also make voluntary "grants" to non-EU projects in S&E Europe (sum based on a per capita GDP basis).
-🇳🇴🇮🇸🇱🇮 are sovereign, independent states trading with the EU.
5/ -🇳🇴🇮🇸🇱🇮 are expected to implement EEA law once it has been approved by them, but "right of reservation" reserves their right to delay or refuse to do so. Purpose, as Jaques Delors said, is to create consent, not imposition.
6/ Calling 🇳🇴🇮🇸🇱🇮 "rule takers" is both insulting & a myth because they have right to suggest, shape, accept, amend or, through the right of reservation, simply not apply the new EEA law.
The EEA structure 🇪🇺-🇳🇴🇮🇸🇱🇮 is intended to be durable & not adversarial.
We‘re the only group campaigning full time for a relationship with the EU based on common market principles & geographical reality. We can only do this with your help. If you agree with us & are able please donate to our campaign-every little will help gofundme.com/f/efta4uk
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1/On Tuesday 27 October EFTA Ministers met virtually for their annual EFTA Ministerial meeting and released video messages celebrating 60 years since the establishment of EFTA in 1960
2/The meeting reinforced EFTA’s commitment to open & rules-based multilateral international trade to fuel economic recovery from COVID and ensure stable trading conditions, including supply chain security
3/They they also welcomed the conclusion of work towards revising the model chapter for trade and sustainable development in EFTA FTAs.
1/;It's clear that the UK government have given up even trying for a sensible EU - UK deal. Even though we are now outside the EU, any attempt by opposition MPs to insist on any deal (even a flimsy one) will be shouted down as an attempt to "block Brexit!!!!1!1!"
2/ Ask for an extension to the transition period? "You are trying to block Brexit 1!1!1!1 Fewmin!"
3/ can we stay in the Single Market like Boris said?
"You are trying to block Brexit 1!1!1!1 Fewmin!" 😠
WARNING: This year, PM Johnson and his associates at the Telegraph (and useful idiots like the Brexit central crowd, Darren Whines and the ERG) are going to Promote ONE KEY MESSAGE 🗣️📢 you need to keep an eye out for 👀 [THREAD]
2/ The message is this - the 🇪🇺 EU is being unreasonable, cruel, bullying 👿😡, intractable and stubborn. This message will be pumped out through newspaper articles, interviews on TV and radio, blogs and tweets.
3/ why? Simple really. The same people who said that an eu-uk trade deal would be "easy", "simple and quick", that "we hold all the cards" are now running things. The worst thing they want is to be proven wrong, so their only option is to create a narrative of a vindictive 🇪🇺
A lot of people are now saying to Soft Brexit supporters like ourselves that it was "obvious" brexit would turn out this way. And that we have been used by a immoral clique of disaster capitalists who want a Hard Brexit. Here is our response:
1/ remember the Government's Brexit leaflets and website? We do.
2/ the HM Government Brexit leaflet praised the merits of the Single Market. Logically then, if the UK voted to leave the EU, it stands to reason that the UK would seek to remain in the single market via the European Economic Area.
1/ We are absolutely sick to death of people saying "the 17.4 million people wanted this, the 17.4 million wanted that." We are part of that 17.4 million and we didn't vote for a chaotic no-deal brexit. #brexit
2/ no doubt some brexit voters (a small percentage) wanted no deal, but others were promised a bespoke UK deal or something akin to 🇳🇴 or 🇨🇦. There was no WTO4UK campaign that we recall.
3/ if you discount from the 17.4 million all those who wanted various forms of a deal, there isn't even a majority for a no deal brexit. That isn't to say that the UK shouldn't leave, but that information should inform the type of new relationship we have.
The Brexit Party is not what people think it is. Some people think it is UKIP 2.0, others think it is going to be the start of some new political revolution. It isn't. It's not a party, its Nigel Farage's personal fan club. In this thread we will attempt to explain. 1.
2. Having spoken to many former UKIP members and activists, they all say the same thing - Farage wants people around him who are three things [1] loyal to him [2] smart enough to be useful [3] not smart or rebellious enough to be a threat to him.
3. During his career many people had fallings out with Nigel, but a small group always stuck by him and impressed him with their combination of both loyalty and being precisely just clever enough to be useful but not enough to challenge him.