The Impact of Brexit on the Common Agricultural Policy, the EU Emissions Trading Scheme and the Common Fisheries Policy

Abstract

The United Kingdom’s impending withdrawal from the European Union marks a watershed moment in the history of Europe. The Member States of the transnational bloc are so intertwined economically that a severance or disentanglement of these bonds is unprecedented in the current era of globalization. This thesis focuses on three of the most significant of the ties that bind the United Kingdom to the European Union and vice versa: the Common Agricultural Policy, the Emissions Trading System and the Common Fisheries Policy. The subject matter presents the two main difficulties: first, the withdrawal process is already underway, making it an unstable legal pillar to rely on; second, the serious literature is scarce, due to the secretive nature of the negotiations, the political gamesmanship both sides have resorted to, and the constant state of uncertainty that has plagued the process. Research has been limited to these three areas because they represent the three most important environmental policies of the EU, and due to time and space constraints. Other researchers have examined the wider UK-EU relationship and the economic and political implications of Brexit. This thesis avoids these questions, except where necessary – instead it seeks to address these environmental policies individually and in concert to assess the options before the parties and the likelihood of a settlement being reached.This thesis has been written in a classical narrative style, discussing the history of all three policies and the United Kingdom’s critical role in establishing them as pillars of the EU’s environment policy: an antagonist to the CAP, an innovator in the ETS and a reluctant partner in the CFP. The author has attempted to use the UK’s intricate history with these three policies to try and project how it will maintain – or abandon – ties with Europe in these areas. It examines Europe’s relationships with third countries, where possible, in order to aid in these projections. It has relied heavily upon both European and British policy literature, the negotiated Draft Withdrawal Agreement of March 2019 and the words and actions of the leadership of both parties to facilitate this task. Lacking guidance in many areas, the utility of the thesis is limited: however, to the author, Britain’s departure is a paradox: the end of its CAP contributions may lead to the very reforms it so ardently desired when it was bound to it; a potential cessation of its participation in the ETS may be a wake-up call to the rest of the EU to commit as stalwartly to the cause of emissions reduction as it did; and the EU’s hardline demands that it continue its membership in the may instead force the Union to negotiate with the UK piecemeal, as the latter desires.