UK 'cannot get access to single market' without adopting EU rules
The head of the Eurogroup is the latest senior European figure to warn that Britain should not get full access to the single market if it does not abide by the fundamental rules of the European Union.
The EU has previously warned that it would not accept a Brexit deal that threatens its four freedoms: the free movement of people, capital, goods and services.
Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the president of the Eurogroup of Eurozone finance ministers, said the bloc “could not allow” a third party to have access, full passporting rights to the financial services market in Europe, if at the same time it allows the country to “deviate on capital requirements and consumer protection standards”.
Speaking to European parliament on Tuesday, the Dutch finance minister insisted the only way the UK could access the single market was by way of membership of the European Economic Area, the 'Norwegian model', along with compliance with EU single market rules.
Dijsselbloem said Europe's financial services centre could not be allowed to rest outside of the bloc and “go its own way in terms of rules and regulations”, which added further pressure on international financial institutions based in London to move some or all of their European operations to somewhere such as Frankfurt, Paris or Dublin.
On Monday, president of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi also queried moving euro-denominated transactions away from London, but said until Theresa May and her government provided more details on their exit plan it would not be possible to say whether Brexit would cost jobs in the City or mean that London-based banks lost their passporting rights to offer services across the EU.
Addressing the European parliament’s committee on economic and monetary affairs, Draghi said: “We are looking for a concept by the UK government where it would share its views and plans with its own citizens, and see what they say about that, before we can actually express our views on this.”
Asked about the consequences of the Brexit vote, Draghi said the only answer to many questions was “we don’t know”.
“And the reason we don’t know is we have to see exactly how the final shape of the negotiations will be and how long they will last. It’s pretty clear that the longer they last, the bigger the uncertainty,” he said.