Jersey's relationship with EU "out of our hands"

Tuesday 12 May 2015

Jersey will be forced to sit on the sidelines while the UK public determines the Island’s relationship with Europe in 2017.

Despite the Island engaging with Brussels directly – as Chief Minister Ian Gorst did when he met EU Commissioners last week – Islanders and their political leaders will have no say over whether it continues to be treated as an equal trade partner.

Senator Gorst confirmed this at his quarterly meeting with the Corporate Services Scrutiny Panel yesterday.

“The UK are going to ask to renegotiate with the EU and hold a referendum in 2017,” he said. “We will continue to work with the UK and EU but if the UK public votes to leave the EU, it would be difficult for us to renegotiate with 27 Member States.

“One of the issues that the UK wants to tackle is policing its borders and addressing those border issues might, in fact, have a positive effect on the Island.

“We will stand up for what is in our best interests, particularly when it comes to the EU’s relationship with third countries. That said, we are not seeking to change our relationship with the UK and Europe but change may come about regardless.”

Jersey is in the hands of the UK because the Island, by convention, relies on Whitehall for defence and foreign affairs, despite now having an external relations minister.

Jersey’s own relationship with the EU is defined in Protocol 3 of the UK’s 1972 Treaty of Accession. Under Protocol 3, the Islands are part of the Customs Union and are essentially within the Single Market for the purposes of trade in goods, but are third countries - outside the EU - in all other respects.

Most Islanders enjoy freedom of movement within the union although those classed as ‘Channel Islanders’ – who do not have a parent or grandparent who was born in the UK or have not lived in the UK for the past five years – have a stamp in their passport preventing them working in EU countries without a permit.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron has promised to hold a promised an "in/out" referendum on British membership of the EU in two years’ time, after a period of renegotiation with Brussels led by Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond.