Could someone explain the EEA please?

campaignforanindependentbritain.org.uk/freedom-of-movement-between-eea-european-economic-area-states-and-the-eu/

My question is how can we be a member of the EEA /EU/EFTA if the criteria is ALL members must abide by the 4 Freedoms/ the Four Pillars as both Labour and Conservative parties have stated the Free Movement of People will end.

Don't you answer your own question there. If we decide to be a member of anything - even something new they come up with - that include requirement of commitment to the four freedoms then we would be committed to that, whatever the parties have said. It was, of course, always possible to control the freedom of movement far more than we ever did and I am sure this government could make it appear that they had put new controls in place while actually recycling old ideas - until it unravelled that is.

That article is a good find Jen. Thanks.

It looks to me as if the greater flexibility in the EEA - already used by some countries - might be something for us to look at. That really throws a lot of light on how the EEA might differ.

durhamjens link to Campaign for an Independent Britain has it's place but other voices describe the Liechtenstein situation differently.

infacts.org/liechtenstein-immigration-controls-may-offer-prospects-uk/

" Could Liechtenstein be used a template for Britain to access the single market while diluting free movement rules? Liechtenstein’s “specific geographic situation” couldn’t be more different from that of the UK. Britain’s negotiations will also involve much higher political stakes. What Europe was willing to offer to tiny Liechtenstein may well be impossible to grant to a large, departing EU member, especially if it wants to deter others."

From Merkel / Tusk / Verhofstadt / Junker they have all stated the UK 'Cannot cherry pick' we must abide by the Fore Freedoms / Pillars.

As I see it the clarion call coming from the EU has not shifted from the day of the Referendum result , we cannot stay in the Single Market irrespective of membership to the EU/EFTA/EEA unless we abide by the 4 Freedoms.

But 48% of the vote wanted to retain the 4 freedoms and no one can say what the rest voted for because a yes/ no vote told us nothing.

So I would suggest the EEA is worth being given every consideration.

I think we also have to remember that politics is the art of the possible not just what some people think the 48% wanted. It's amazing how many Mystic Meg's have come out of the woodwork since the vote.

But if UK is already an EEA. Member and we haven't given notice to quit, shouldn't it be easy to use EEA membership as a basis of our exit from EU?

It would solve the Irish Problem too as we would still be in the customs union.

Could it all be that simple?

Boris, Gove and friends wouldn't accept it. But would May and Davis go for it?

Is it all a game of bluff and double-bluff?

Can anyone who voted to remain in the eu name a country that the eu trades with who has to abide by the 4 freedoms.
The eu's largest trading market is the US.
Their second is China.
I think you will agree that neither of these two counties abide by the 'Freedom to live and work'

In the end it will have to be some sort of compromise, not only between the EU and UK but between the half of the country that voted to leave and the half that voted to stay in.

I don't think we could expect the UK, on it own to get the same trading arrangements as either the USA or China and, I don't know about you but I am not aware of exactly what their trading arrangements actually are. It would be a very distorted view of who we are to believe we have the same weight, when it comes to negotiating, as the two largest world powers