The EU-UK Trade And Cooperation Agreement. The Level Playing Field Issue


Abstract


This article aims to explore the level playing field issue in the framework of the post-Brexit deal. The article seeks to understand why this matter became a major issue on EU international agreements, by studying what the level playing field is about, what its main political and economic purposes are and why the European Union was so determined about it in the negotiations with the British Government. Then it analyses how the topics of State aid and regulatory alignment with EU labor and social standards and with EU environmental rules were settled in the Trade and Cooperation Agreement signed between the European Union and the United Kingdom by the end of 2020.


DOI Code: 10.1285/i20398573v8n1p207

References


- Barnard, C 2020, The wonky level playing field: the heart of the trade talks disagreement, UK In A Changing Europe, viewed 3 December 2021, https://ukandeu.ac.uk/level-playing-field/

- Bradford, A 2020, The Brussels Effects. How The European Union Rules The World, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

- Bressanelli, E & Chelotti, N 2021, “Assessing What Brexit Means for Europe: Implications for EU Institutions and Actors”, Politics and Governance, vol. 9, nº 1, pp. 1-4.

- Brunsden J 2020, ‘Johnson’s free trade vision hits familiar sticking points’, Financial Times, 4 December, viewed 3 November 2021, https://www.ft.com/content/1b7d2890-46a4-11ea-aee2-9ddbdc86190d?fbclid=IwAR2rc2iVnkHoyIiU8oXnOkMXFZWbzg_wAi58UPSLYviZozSjjU8zcPM80us

- Brunsden, J & Parker, G 2020, ‘The final, frenetic hours that broke the Brexit deadlock’, Financial Times, 24 December, viewed 10 November 2021, https://www.ft.com/content/461b466a-533e-4742-813d-596f868ca328?fbclid=IwAR2rqe_baE9wLkVVkL-V585ikkmEuKKP2egy3JNJpiXTa1_A6FNsKpFXlCI

- D’Erman, V 2021, “Competing Logics of Integration: EU Trade Policy Post-Brexit”, International Studies, vol. 58, nº 2, pp. 219-233.

- Davison, LM 2018, “Envisaging the Post-Brexit Landscape: An Articulation of the Likely Changes to the EU–UK Competition Policy Relationship”, Liverpool Law Review, pp. 99-121.

- Dehousse, F & Miny, X 2018, “What are the Judicial Options for the Future EU-UK Agreement?”, Journal of European Studies, pp. 1-28.

- Eeckhout, P 2021,“Brexit after the negotiation of the trade and cooperation agreement: who takes back control of what?”, Revista de Derecho Comunitario Europeo, nº 68, pp. 11-22.

- Espinoza, J 2021, ‘EU court rejects Ryanair challenge to state aid for rival airlines’, Financial Times, 17 February, viewed 10 November 2021, https://www.ft.com/content/1a366360-fb7b-4035-b6b8-1ed6dc7dbc3a?fbclid=IwAR0uYsCeJKgX9B7LtcGxewY-iaUPzroOQ0ytczoMDzQr6NXCJcVO-5ShOkY

- Holmes, P & Rollo, J 2020, “EU-UK Post-Brexit Trade Relations: Prosperity Versus Sovereignty?”, European Foreign Affairs Review vol. 25, nº 4, pp. 523-550.

- Larik, J 2017, “EU foreign relations law as a field of scholarship”, 111 American Journal of International Law (Unbound) vol. 111, p. 324.

- Leonelli, GC 2021, “From Extra-Territorial Leverage and Transnational Environmental Protection to Distortions of Competition: The Level Playing Field in the EU–UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement”, Journal of Environmental Law, https://doi.org/10.1093/jel/eqab010

- Marcus, J et al. 2021, The impact of COVID-19 on the Internal Market, Policy Department for Economic, Scientific and Quality of Life Policies, European Parliament, PE 658.219, viewed 2 December 2021, https://www.bruegel.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/QA0221093ENN.pdf

- Mariani, P & Sacerdoti, G 2021, Trade in Goods and Level Playing Field, Brexit Institute Working Paper Series, No 7/2021, Bocconi Legal Studies Research Paper No. 3797021, viewed 10 December 2021, http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3797021

- Münchau, W 2020, ‘Britain and the EU are negotiating at cross purposes’, Financial Times, 9 February, viewed 10 November 2021, https://www.ft.com/content/7a092804-49c0-11ea-aee2-9ddbdc86190d?fbclid=IwAR37qLnSMjXpuSvYaC4uYqv5H1tqJF7vAJWYmUUug5YoYus8N5sXoj9b3HY

- Parker, G 2020, ‘Optimism for shift on ‘level playing field’ in Brexit trade talk’s, Financial Times, 14 December, viewed 10 November 2021, https://www.ft.com/content/ca2da6a9-2446-4b61-ba95-860f8c1ee92c?fbclid=IwAR3Ahbd99QQzrIhOQ-4ObzfcBHmz5AlN8IsYwcyGuUhbLAVSGGnHwHbwpV4

- Salter, J P 2020, What does a level playing field mean?, UK In A Changing Europe, viewed 3 December 2021, https://ukandeu.ac.uk/explainers/what-does-a-level-playing-field-mean/

- Sandrin, PO & Hoffmann, AR 2018, “Silences and hierarchies in European Public Diplomacy”, Revista Brasileira de Política Internacional, vol. 61, nº1, pp. 1-18.

- Stephens, P 2020, ‘The UK will now count the cost of Brexit sovereignty’, Financial Times, 17 December, viewed 10 November 202, https://www.ft.com/content/f5cf57f5-0d62-4158-b67b-46b2df5c04bd

- Tani, C 2017, ‘EU overcomes divisions on posted workers’, EU OBSERVER, 24 October, viewed 10 November 2021, https://euobserver.com/social/139599

- Wardhaugh, B 2021, “Subsidies and Competition in the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement: All Pain for No Gain?”, Manchester Journal of International Economic Law, vol. 18, nº 1, pp.70-100.

- Yeoh, P 2021, “Post-Brexit Deal: The New Normal for the UK?”, Business Law Review, vol. 42, pp. 62-109.


Full Text: pdf

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribuzione - Non commerciale - Non opere derivate 3.0 Italia License.