The four freedoms: not set in stone, not universally adhered to, and not necessary for single market access

A persistent myth about the EU is that there is no flexibility on the “four freedoms.” But there are plenty of exceptions that prove this isn’t true, says Merryn Somerset Webb.

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Liechtenstein restricted free movement of people until 1998 and Iceland introduced capital controls after the financial crisis.

Of the many myths about the EU, the one that seems to be most entrenched in the most minds perhaps because it is so often repeated is that there is no flexibility whatsoever on the "four freedoms." Anyone who wants to be in the single market or even to have access to it must submit to the full and free movement of goods, capital, services and people in and out of their country. But this simply isn't so.

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Merryn Somerset Webb

Merryn Somerset Webb started her career in Tokyo at public broadcaster NHK before becoming a Japanese equity broker at what was then Warburgs. She went on to work at SBC and UBS without moving from her desk in Kamiyacho (it was the age of mergers).

After five years in Japan she returned to work in the UK at Paribas. This soon became BNP Paribas. Again, no desk move was required. On leaving the City, Merryn helped The Week magazine with its City pages before becoming the launch editor of MoneyWeek in 2000 and taking on columns first in the Sunday Times and then in 2009 in the Financial Times

Twenty years on, MoneyWeek is the best-selling financial magazine in the UK. Merryn was its Editor in Chief until 2022. She is now a senior columnist at Bloomberg and host of the Merryn Talks Money podcast -  but still writes for Moneyweek monthly. 

Merryn is also is a non executive director of two investment trusts – BlackRock Throgmorton, and the Murray Income Investment Trust.