Accession of Third Countries to the European Union Vs
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Faculty of Law and Criminology Academic Year 2018-2019 Exam Session [1] Accession of Third Countries to the European Union vs. Brexit: A Comparison of the Transitional Agreements and Their Implication for the EU Internal Market LLM Paper by FAUVE BEX Student number: 01810919 Promotor: Prof. Dr. Inge GOVAERE Supervisor: Ms. Joyce DE CONINCK ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would first like to express my sincere gratitude to Professor Doctor Inge Govaere who accepted to mentor me in the redaction of this study and, more specifically, accepted that I would partly work on Brexit, a subject which I have aspired to delve into since quite some time. I am further grateful to Professor Doctor Ellen Desmet, Ms. Joyce De Coninck, Ms. Laurence Lambert and Ms. Birte Scorpion who made me grow intellectually and taught me to be as critical as possible in the analysis of subjects, efficient, have self-confidence and persevere and this, through their moot court coaching. Lastly, I would like to thank my dad, Elyse and Matthias for their thorough proofreading, my moot court team mates, without whom courage would have failed to stay with me until the submission, and my family and friends to always support my endeavours. TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .............................................................................................................................. INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 1. ACCESSION VS. WITHDRAWAL: THE BASICS .............................................................. 3 A. LEGAL FRAMEWORK ........................................................................................................................... 3 1. Article 49 TEU............................................................................................................................... 3 2. Article 50 TEU............................................................................................................................... 5 B. ACCESSION VS. WITHDRAWAL: GENERAL COMPARISON ........................................................................ 9 1. Referendums: An interplay between exit and voice.......................................................................... 9 2. Competences .................................................................................................................................12 3. European integration .....................................................................................................................15 4. Duty of loyal cooperation ..............................................................................................................17 CHAPTER 2. TRANSITIONAL MEASURES AND THEIR RATIONALE...............................................20 A. DEFINITION AND SCOPE OF TRANSITIONAL ARRANGEMENTS .................................................................21 1. Definition......................................................................................................................................21 2. Scope ............................................................................................................................................22 Scope ratione temporis ............................................................................................................................ 22 Scope ratione materiae ............................................................................................................................ 23 i. Accession ........................................................................................................................................... 23 ii. Withdrawal ........................................................................................................................................ 25 Analysis of Article 127 Draft Withdrawal Agreement ..................................................................... 25 Other transitional arrangements...................................................................................................... 27 iii. Comparison ........................................................................................................................................ 28 B. RATIONALE FOR TRANSITIONAL MEASURES .........................................................................................30 1. Accession......................................................................................................................................30 2. Withdrawal ...................................................................................................................................32 CHAPTER 3. ACCESSION VS. WITHDRAWAL: HOW IS THE FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT FOR WORKERS? ..................................................................................................................................................35 A. FREE MOVEMENT OF WORKERS IN ACCESSION ......................................................................................36 1. Safeguard clauses ..........................................................................................................................36 2. Additional protections ...................................................................................................................38 3. Results ..........................................................................................................................................40 Different rationales for the transition on the free movement of workers ..................................................... 40 Results .................................................................................................................................................... 41 B. STATE OF THE ART: WORKERS IN THE DRAFT WITHDRAWAL AGREEMENT ............................................42 CONCLUSION ..............................................................................................................................................45 BIBLIOGRAPHY .........................................................................................................................................48 ANNEX ..........................................................................................................................................................58 INTRODUCTION The European Union (“EU”) is generally synonym of integration, growth and removal of barriers, namely through its enlargement. Since the United Kingdom (“UK”) electorate voted to leave the EU on 23 June 2016, antonyms such as disentanglement or disintegration could rather be deemed more prominent. However, what might seem as a drawback for the Union, may very well be another step towards an “ever closer union”. As such a step is also placed during accession to the EU, the first seeds of a comparison between the two dynamics of accession to and withdrawal from the EU can be sowed. This premise leads to question whether and to what extent the two movements are comparable. Accession to and withdrawal from the Union seem prima facie to be antagonist movements. The first allows Member States to enter the EU, whereas the second entails the departure of a Member State, should the procedure under Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union1 (“TEU”) be fulfilled. Nevertheless, the two dynamics inevitably have one common point: the EU. The Union and its legal system entail that areas of convergence might exist between accession and withdrawal, such as the duty of loyal cooperation and the division of competences. It will thus be analysed how, in these processes, the principle of cooperation enshrined in Article 4(3) TEU comes into play and how the competences of the Union are attributed. Therefore, the analysis of EU enlargements since 2004 onwards, leaving aside future enlargements, and Brexit will shed light on the possible comparison as they are the translation of the application of Articles 49 and 50 TEU and illustrate the most recent use of transitional measures. It will be sought to assess whether Brexit can be qualified as an accession in reverse. Different perspectives and opposing sources will guide this study as objectively as possible through the comparison, taking into account the stand of all stakeholders, i.e. the States acceding to the EU, the European institutions, the present Member States and the withdrawing State. Bearing this method in mind, the comparison between the transitional arrangements in accession and withdrawal will be approached through three chapters. First, in order to set the scene and to analyse the transitional arrangements that the two dynamics have brought along: a detour will have to be made to understand the intricacies and lay down 1 Treaty on European Union, signed in Lisbon on 13 December 2007 (entered into force on 1 December 2009); see latest version: Consolidated version of the Treaty on European Union [2016] OJ C 202/1 [“TEU”]. 1 the essential elements covered in accession and withdrawal of Member States (Chapter 1). In this chapter, the accession and withdrawal provisions found in Articles 49 and 50 TEU will be analysed. This will pave the way for a first general comparison and briefly introduce the implication for transitional arrangements. Second, the transitional arrangements will further be the basis for the comparison, although the rationale for their implementation will have to be challenged (Chapter 2). Accession necessarily entails transitional arrangements, which are enshrined