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Regular version of the site

Public Lecture by Professor Friedl Weiss

At the invitation of the Skolkovo-HSE Institute for Law and Development, on December 1st, 2016, the Higher School of Economics Faculty of Law received Friedl Weiss, professor at Vienna University, and the Vienna Diplomatic Academy.


The basis of the speech was set on the theme: "Brexit and Post-Brexit ways out from the Single Market and the EU Trading Bloc". The audience comprised students of the HSE Faculty of Law, interested in international trade law and policy.

Prof. Friedl Weiss made a presentation which highlighted the legal and commercial aspects of potential UK and EU disintegration. The lecturer also touched on the question of the possible legal models that will set the course of future international relations between the United Kingdom and the European Union through the lens of examples of existing special legal regimes between a number of countries with varying degrees of integration with the EU. Friedl Weiss presented his vision for the changes required in the international agreements in connection with Brexit.

Discussed also were prospects of cooperation of the member states of the World Trade Organization, including the fate of the free trade agreements in the European space. In particular, the professor turned to the issue of cooperation between the EU and the candidates for future EU membership (Montenegro, Serbia, Turkey), as well as countries cooperating with the EU and that have the prospect of accession (Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo). An appropriate interaction model, according to Professor Weiss, can be extrapolated for the relationship of the United Kingdom and the European Union in the new political reality. Another promising scenario for the interaction of the United Kingdom and the European Union represents the alignment of the legal relations of the EU model of cooperation with the states of the European Economic Area (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway). Formed jointly on the basis of bilateral agreements and sectoral policies, the development of an institutional framework for cooperation will ensure the free flow of labour in the context of dynamically developing the single market. However, Professor Weiss believes that the integration of the rules of the European Economic Area is not a foregone conclusion. Alternatively, the integration of legal systems could be done in the framework of autonomous relations similar to those existing today between the EU and the USA.

The will of the United Kingdom to withdraw from the EU requires a clear formulation of legally registered agreement. It is fraught with regulatory risk, the need to modify treaty regimes that exist currently between the United Kingdom and the member state counterparties (e.g., consider the EU and Canada's economic and trade cooperation agreement). Either way, the cooperation of the United Kingdom to the EU member states is inevitable - both in the fields of trade, and public policy.