Thread by @CaminoMortera

Today, @CER_EU publishes my piece on #Brexit and #JHA. I have been looking at this for 1,5 years so I hope I did not make too many mistakes (links to piece - cer.eu/publications/a… and opens thread)

At the outset of the #Brexit process, most people assumed that a deal on #police and #judicial co-operation was easier to get than one on #trade. Time has shown this is not the case. Ongoing co-op on #JHA is one of the few items yet to be agreed on #withdrawal deal. Why?

Well, because the #EU and #UK's opening positions in the #negotiation are incompatible: Britain wants a #bespoke agreement with the EU, a la #Schengen, but is not willing to accept #ECJ or #EUCharter. EU wants to replicate existing models. What to do?

The solution, as usual, will be a #halfway house. The UK could replicate the #extradition agreement the EU has with #Norway and #Iceland, but this will take time and will mean many #EU countries will not surrender their nationals to Britain.

#Britain could also retain indirect access to the #Schengen Information System, like #US and #Canada. This will allow Britain to obtain information, although it will need to ask #Europol, or a friendly #EU or #Schengen country to interrogate the database on its behalf.

The UK could try to get a deep partnership with #Europol, like #Denmark or the #US. It will be allowed to post liaison officers to the agency but won't have direct access to @Europol's databases.

All these are elements from existing models, as the EU wants. But the UK could also get its way if they were to be part of an 'overarching' #security treaty, which could be a stand alone deal or part of the wider #Brexit arrangement. The second option is better, because...

...it will make it more difficult for the #EuropeanParliament to vote down the agreement and it would allow #Britain to include an horizontal chapter on #dataprotection (one of Europe's red lines), applicable to a) #trade and b) #law #enforcement.

But none of this can happen until #London clarifies its position on the #ECJ (@theresa_may said in Munich that she may be open to a certain level of oversight in this area) and the #EU #Charter of #FundamentalRights (in the midst of a ping-pong game in @UKParliament)

For a more detailed analysis of #JHA models of co-operation between the #EU and non-EU countries, and on Britain's realistic options, see (links to piece again and closes thread) cer.eu/publications/a…