The future relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Union remains open and one of the options floated has been for the UK to join the European Economic Area (EEA) on the EFTA side.

The EEA extends the EU’s Single Market to three EFTA countries: Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein. These countries are simultaneously members of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). They are not subject to the jurisdiction of the Court of Justice of the European Union, but to that of the EFTA Court. While Prime Minister Theresa May has written that the UK does not seek to remain part of the Single Market, the UK Government’s position on the ‘fourth freedom,’ the free movement of persons, has softened.

Join QPol at Queen’s as we welcome Professor Carl Baudenbacher, President of the EFTA Court, who will explore whether the EEA model, or a bespoke variation of it, would be a suitable way forward for the UK, and ensure the harmony and soft-border between the isles’ two countries.

To register, click here.

About Professor Carl Baudenbacher, President of the EFTA Court

Professor Carl Baudenbacher has been the Liechtenstein Judge of the EFTA Court since 1995 and its President since 2003. From 1987 to 2013 he was the Chair of Private, Commercial and Economic Law and the Managing Director of the Institute of European and International Business Law at the University of St. Gallen HSG. From 1993 to 2004, he was a Permanent Visiting Professor at the University of Texas. He is now the Director of the Competence Center for European and International Law at the University of St Gallen HSG.