Does the UK no longer meet the criteria for EU membership?

In order to join the EU, a country must first of all meet the basic criteria for membership. Known as the ‘Copenhagen criteria’ (see below), these cover areas such as democracy and the rule of law.

Since Brexit, commentators have occasionally suggested that the UK would fail one or more of these tests, because of a laundry-list of issues such as the former Tory government threatening to break international treaties, the growth of corruption, undermining of institutions and more.

While it did do all of these things, the former government did not, by any reasonable measure, destroy British democracy or the rule of law. The Tory government passed a law declaring Rwanda ‘safe’ in a bid to get around to Supreme Court rulings, but it did not go so far as to simply disregard the rulings. The nature of UK democracy was not fundamentally changed, as shown by the peaceful post-election transfer of power to a new government.

The UK, as a developed democratic country, continues to meet the Copenhagen criteria. That is not to dismiss areas of concern such as corruption, but to point out that the criteria are a minimal bar that is not particularly difficult to meet.

Gina Miller, the campaigner who has won two legal challenges to the British government over the need for Parliament to approve Brexit and the government’s illegal prorogation (suspension) of Parliament in 2019, puts it this way: “We cannot foresee that the UK would not satisfy the treaty and Copenhagen criteria, so it is very unlikely the UK would encounter difficulties.”

The third part of the Copenhagen criteria (implementing EU standards) would have the potential to be more problematic if the UK had diverged a long way from EU law – but it has not done so.

High alignment

Its status as a recent ex-member means that the UK most likely still meets the criteria for EU membership, and has already implemented EU law up to 2020. The vast majority of this has not been repealed or altered.

Since the UK government currently opposes rejoining the EU, it has not produced reports looking at UK’s level of compatibility with EU law. However, the Scottish government – which backs Scotland joining the EU as part of Scottish independence – has published a paper on the issue. They write:

“Scotland’s unique position – having been part of the EU for over 47 years with a positive record of implementation of EU legislation and a high level of alignment with EU law – makes it well placed to move through the accession process quickly.

“Scotland also already has skilled people with a detailed understanding of EU law in devolved areas... Given the merit-based nature of the EU accession process, this Scottish Government is clear that Scotland would be well placed to fulfil the requirements of the accession process... smoothly and quickly.”

This assessment could equally apply to the UK as a whole.

This does not mean that the UK would not be asked to make reforms before rejoining: it is likely that some minor changes would be requested. Ultimately, though, the UK already meets the majority of the EU's criteria and is perfectly capable of meeting the rest.

For reference: the Copenhagen criteria

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