Question #10 – Other Countries have links with the EU but remain independent. If we leave, why can’t Britain be like Norway and Switzerland, with strong trade links to the EU but outside of the EU?
Roland Rudd Chairman of Business for New Europe explains:
“Those two countries are very different, and it’s interesting because Norway pays around 80 per cent per person what we pay into the European Union budget. And for that they have no representation on the European Council, Commission, Parliament and they have to introduce every single rule that comes out of the European Union…
Switzerland has around 150 different trade agreements which they built up over decades and if we were to come out we’d have to start from scratch. It would be a lot of free trade agreement to sign, in terms of going country to country to try and replicate what Switzerland have done.”