The UK and the EU: prospects of cooperations
The article is dedicated to study of the prospects of cooperation between the European Union and the UK after it leaves the EU. The article analyzes the positions and proposals of the parties in the negotiation, their compatibility and compliance with each other. The study uses the process tracking method. The official documents of the EU and the UK government related to the negotiation process are used as the basic sources. The author concludes that, despite the objective interest in effective cooperation in the future, the achievement of a mutually acceptable agreement for both parties remains problematic, which is largely due to the domestic political problems of each of them. The British proposals, as they are currently formulated, cannot be accepted by the European Union, because this will lead to a breach of the EU's institutional and legal systems, as well as to give additional impetus to some member States to promote their “special” positions. At the same time, it is not possible for the UK to accept the EU conditions, in particular the jurisdiction of the EU Court of Justice or the regulatory alignment for Northern Ireland, due to the position of eurosceptics in the House of Commons. The solution may be a compromise agreement, where each of the parties will make significant concessions to shift their “red lines”, for example, such as a complete waiver of the EU law or recognition of the jurisdiction of the EU Court of Justice. An alternative to compromise will be “no deal”, which objectively does not meet the interests of both sides.