BRUSSELS (AP) – Deep into a crucial negotiating weekend, a breakthrough on fishing rights has remained unparalleled for the European Union and the UK, leaving them both without a trade agreement to lessen the edge of a chaotic economic break, and expensive on New Year’s Day.
With hundreds of thousands of jobs at stake across the economy, the small fisheries sector has continued to lead a wedge between the bloc of 27 nations and Britain, highlighting the animosity that has led them to divorce Brexit over the past four years. The UK left the bloc in January, but an 11-month economic transition period ends on 31 December.
The office of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Sunday that the EU “continues to make demands that are incompatible with our independence. We cannot accept an agreement that does not leave us in control of our own laws or waters. ”
The near-mythical sense of Britain’s right to control the waves was a key part of what led the Brexiteers to victory in the 2016 referendum. Johnson seeks to ensure that as much of the UK’s common waters as possible are now returned. only British ships.
The EU has always argued that those waters have been divided for decades, if not centuries, and insists that too many fishing rights will be eliminated, will punish Britain by imposing high import duties on the mainland market, which is essential for UK seafood industry.
The stalemate left general discussions inconclusive with companies on both sides demanding an agreement that would save tens of billions in costs. Johnson, however, could not be surrendered.
“We need to get any agreement correct and based on terms that respect what the British voted for,” his office said.
The EU Parliament must approve any agreement before the end of the year and set a deadline on Sunday evening so that it can have a cursory review of the agreement and approve it before New Year’s Day. However, the negotiators seemed a little impressed by yet another deadline, when so many were already missed during the four-year departure process.
An official from an EU coastal nation said the EU refuses to give up more than a quarter of the fishing quotas the bloc must now lose as Britain regains full control of its waters over Brexit. The UK is also firm that a 3-year transition period would be long enough for EU fishermen to adapt to the new rules, while the EU wants at least six years.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity, as talks were still ongoing.
Failure to reach a post-Brexit agreement would lead to more chaos on Britain’s borders with the EU in early 2021, when the new tariffs would add to other trade impediments adopted by both sides. Discussions have hampered two main issues in recent days – EU access to UK fishing waters and ensuring fair competition between companies.
A trade agreement would ensure that there are no tariffs and quotas on trade in goods between the two parties, but there would still be technical costs, partly associated with customs controls and non-tariff barriers to services.
While both sides would suffer economically due to the failure to secure a trade agreement, most economists believe the British economy will have a greater impact, at least in the short term, as it is relatively more dependent on trade with the EU. than vice versa.
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Jill Lawless contributed from London.
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