The European Union’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier told reporters at a press conference in Brussels on Tuesday that the United Kingdom would have to look at the EU’s existing arrangements with nonmember countries such as Switzerland and Norway to determine what kind of relationship it will have after its exit from the European Union.
These models offer some clues about how Brexit will affect U.K.’s contribution to EU development cooperation. The country is the largest contributor to the EU’s $62 billion budget for official development assistance, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
“It’s up to the U.K. to determine what kind of Brexit it wants,” Barnier said. “In the case of Norway for instance, there is access to the single market but this is accompanied by predetermined and very specific contributions to the EU budget. That’s one of the models that already exist, and that’s really one of the closest models that exists to the EU without being a member,” Barnier said.
About the author
Molly Andersmollyanders_dev
Molly Anders is a former U.K. correspondent for Devex. Based in London, she reports on development finance trends with a focus on British and European institutions. She is especially interested in evidence-based development and women’s economic empowerment, as well as innovative financing for the protection of migrants and refugees. Molly is a former Fulbright Scholar and studied Arabic in Syria, Jordan, Egypt and Morocco.
