Professor Veerle Heyvaert gave evidence to the UK parliament's EU Internal Market Sub-Committee on 5 March 2020. The discussion centred around the considerations underlying the EU’s insistence on a level playing field in its negotiations of a new trade agreement with the UK, focusing in particular on level playing field conditions for state aids, environmental regulation and climate change law. This included the pros and cons of the UK opposing the continued application of EU state aid rules post-Brexit, with all witnesses opining that there appeared very little to gain from treating this as a red line, and that retaining a relationship with the EU on the question of state aid seemed much more advantageous for the UK. The discussion also covered the forthcoming reform of EU state aid policy, in particular in the light of the EU’s climate and energy policy, the development of and implementation strategies for non-regression clauses, and the impact of the Northern Ireland Protocol on a future UK state aid policy.
watch the evidence given to the committee here