ASI makes the case for the EEA option in wake of historic Brexit vote

As the conversation turns to what Brexit will look like, the Adam Smith Institute has continued to make the case for the EEA option across the national media.

The Sunday Times reported:

Many experts say that Brits already living in Europe will be able to stay under the Vienna Convention on 1969, which gives expats acquired rights. In the future expats may have to apply for a visa to live on the Continent, depending on the outcome of the exit negotiations, and this may vary from country to country.

It is nevertheless likely that the EU would offer Britain a deal to stay in the European Economic Area (EEA), according to the Adam Smith Institute. If this were the case, some say it would be business as usual for expats.  

The Sunday Telegraph reported:

Sam Bowman, executive director of the Adam Smith Institute, says it is right that Cameron waits before starting the official process of withdrawal.

“We’ve just seen one of the biggest political earthquakes in modern British history. The important thing now is to wait for things to calm down, take some time to take stock of where we are and where we want to be, and do everything we can to avoid major shocks to the economy as we leave.”

The Financial Times reported:

The rest of the EU would no doubt be satisfied with a Norway-style arrangement, but this only looks realistic as a way station while looser relations are worked out, as proposed by the Adam Smith Institute. And as an explicitly temporary solution, it is the least stabalising arrangement that might  - just might - be acceptable on both sides.

In another FT article: 

Some proponents of Brexit, such as Daniel Hannan MEP and the Adam Smith Institute, a think-tank, have advocated joining the EEA or agreeing bilateral trade deals similar to the one Switzerland has struck with the EU.

The Daily Express reported:

The think-tank's Executive Director, Sam Bowman, last night said: "This is a vote for Britain to open up to the world. "However it is clear that markets have taken a severe hit, much of which is down to uncertainty about what will happen next.

"It is crucial that the UK does not leave the Single Market even as it leaves the EU, in order to reassure markets and avoid a major economic shock. This option will take the economic risk out of leaving and avoid most of the economic losses that Remainers warned leaving would entail. Staying in the Single Market for a period of five to ten years would give the UK the time it needs to properly disengage from Europe as a process, not a one-off event."

I News reported:

It is very likely that we will follow a very pragmatic of 'liberal leave' process, and so we should. This takes Brexit as a multistage process that firstly sees Britain exit EU membership while maintaining Single Market participation. Such a halfway house would put us in the European Economic Area (EEA), like Iceland or Norway. That lessens the economic risk of exit yet also repatriated big powers over agriculture, fisheries and VAT, whilst at the same time giving the British government the leverage to pull an emergency break over free movement. - Roland Smith

City AM reported: 

As plans are set in motion for the UK's break from the EU, the "safest way out" is to become a member of the European Economic Area (EEA), a free market think tank has said as a British trade deal could take years.

The Adam Smith Institute (ASI) has said that a sharp break from the EU would be "very bad for British exporters, and really would threaten jobs", adding that a unique trade deal with the UK "will take many years" to agree upon.

The think tank says that the UK should follow the example of countries like Iceland and Norway which are part of the EEA, allowing Britain to trade with the EU as normal and continue to have freedom of movement for the next five years before a British deal can be arranged.

The Daily Telegraph reported:

Sam Bowman, executive director of the Adam Smith Institute, said he was “confident” that the EEA option would be on the table. “As long as all we’re asking for is the same deal that other countries have, the EU would find it very difficult to say no, because that would be clear and egregious punishment for leaving,” he said.

EEA membership would allow the City of London to keep precious “passporting rights” that mean firms can do cross-border business in any part of the bloc. “Passporting is important if we want the City to be a base for international financial institutions,” said Mr Bowman. “It’s for this reason that all the warnings we have heard from banks that they may need to leave the City are contingent on the UK leaving the single market – if we stay, little will change.”

The Daily Telegraph also quoted Sam Bowman in their latest article: "After Brexit, only one thing can keep Britain together: the Norway model". 

An op-ed from Roland Smith in The Daily Telegraph noted:

That journey will very likely involve a first step to an European Economic Area-type position. It won’t be like Norway as there will be no Schengen involvement and of course our geographic borders are more robust.

That EEA position will come with a much-needed emergency brake on the four freedoms – one that can be pulled unilaterally and thus which essentially repatriates to Britain some greater semblance of migration control. There are also other mechanisms putting some democratic control over free movement that already have some precedent in the EEA today.