Norway concerns over trade deal hit UK Brexit hopes
UK hopes of smooth talks on Brexit were dealt a blow on Tuesday as it emerged that the EU would make tougher demands on the terms of transition and Norway warned it would take a dim view of Britain getting a special trade deal.
A paper on chief EU negotiator Michel Barnier’s demands for the transition period, seen by the Guardian newspaper, revealed the EU plans to insist on the free movement of people throughout the proposed two year period and the inclusion of people moving to the UK before 31 December 2020 in any post-Brexit agreement on citizens’ rights.
The UK had at one time wanted the agreement on citizens to be limited to people who moved to the UK before 29 March 2017, when Theresa May triggered article 50.
The EU also insists that the UK will only continue to enjoy the benefits of trade agreements with non-EU countries if “authorised” by Brussels. The UK will also effectively be kept to the terms of the common fisheries policy.
It is understood that the EU is not willing to commit to settling the terms of a transition deal by March, as hoped for by the UK.
Senior EU officials told the newspaper they were only cautiously confident of getting agreement by “the first half of the year – if we don’t run into substantive difficulties”.
The report cited diplomatic sources as saying Oslo had made repeated representations to EU officials over fears that an overly generous offer to the UK will fuel calls in Norway to renegotiate its ties with the bloc.
Norway makes larger financial contributions to the EU per capita than the UK and accepts free movement of people in order to have access to the single market. However, it has no decision-making role in Brussels’ institutions.
“[The Norwegians] are following this very closely to make sure that we are not giving the UK a much more favourable deal,” an EU official was quoted as saying.