Author : Great Britain: Foreign And Commonwealth Office
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9780101888394
Total Pages : 23 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (883 download)
Book Synopsis The Process for Withdrawing from the European Union by : Great Britain: Foreign And Commonwealth Office
Download or read book The Process for Withdrawing from the European Union written by Great Britain: Foreign And Commonwealth Office and published by . This book was released on 2016-03-09 with total page 23 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This document sets out the process that would follow a vote to leave the European Union, and the prospects for negotiations. Alternative models for the UK's relationship with the EU after exit will be examined in a second document. A vote to leave the EU would be the start, not the end, of a process. It would begin a period of uncertainty, of unknown length, and an unpredictable outcome. The broad procedural route is set out in Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union, ensuring exit is possible. But beyond procedure, nothing is agreed and nothing has been tested. It is important, as the people of the United Kingdom prepare to make their choice, that the complexities of the steps that would follow a vote to leave are understood. There are three parts to this: (i) The first is the Article 50 process itself. This is the only lawful route for the United Kingdom to leave the EU and it is the one that the UK Government would follow; (ii) The second issue at stake is the nature of the negotiations that would follow an exit vote. The UK would, at the moment Article 50 is triggered, be excluded from EU discussions on the nature of the exit negotiations. These would be settled by the remaining EU Member States.; (iii) A third consideration is the range of issues that would be affected by a vote for exit and which would be subject to negotiation with the rest of the EU during the exit process. Reaching agreement on such a wide range of issues, with a large number of negotiating partners, each of whom would seek to defend their interests, should be expected to be difficult and involve potentially unpalatable trade-offs. Moreover, the implications are not confined to our dealings with Europe. The UK's trading relationship with countries around the world, for instance, is bound up in agreements reached by the EU which would cease to apply to the UK on our departure from the EU. Replacements for these too would have to be negotiated. The process of withdrawing from the EU is untested, and would contain numerous elements, including the outcome of the negotiations, about which there is currently little clarity. It could lead to up to a decade or more of uncertainty.
