Okay … forget about the backstop. Forget about the May Deal. And absolutely definitely, forget about No Deal. It’s time – always assuming that a second referendum is ruled out – to think about the fallback. It’s called the European Economic Area (EEA), incorporating the European Free Trade Association (Efta), or the Norway Option for short.
The EEA is made up of all 27/28 member states of the EU plus the four Efta states (Norway, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Iceland) that have opted to be part of the Single Market. Switzerland – a permanent member of the Awkward Squad – is not technically a member of the EEA but has negotiated an ever-lengthening list of treaties that amount largely to the same thing. Efta, it should be noted, has its own mini-court, based in Luxembourg, which operates in conjunction with the ECJ to identify and resolve possible conflicts. Efta’s secretariat, however, is located in Geneva, just down the road from the headquarters of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
