BRUSSELS (AP) – In a crucial weekend of negotiations, a breakthrough on fishing rights remained difficult for the European Union and Britain, leaving both without a trade deal that would dampen the chaotic and costly economic break on New Year’s Day.
With hundreds of thousands of jobs at stake across the economy, the small fisheries sector continued to push a wedge between the 27-nation bloc and the UK, highlighting the animosity that led them to the Brexit divorce. for the last four years. Britain 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 almost mythical sense of Britain’s rights to govern its waves was an essential part of what led the Brexiteers to victory in the 2016 referendum. Johnson wants to make sure that as much of British shared waters as possible is only return to ships from the United Kingdom.
The EU has always maintained that these waters have been shared for decades, if not centuries, and insists that if too many fishing rights are removed, it will punish Britain by imposing significant import rates on the mainland market, which is essential for seafood from the UK. industry.
The stalemate has left general talks unfinished with companies on both sides demanding an agreement that would save tens of billions of costs. Johnson, however, could not be made to change.
“We need to get a fair deal and based on terms that respect what the British people voted for,” his office said.
The EU parliament must approve any agreement before the end of the year and had set a deadline for Sunday night so that it could have a superficial review of the agreement and approve it before New Year’s Day. Negotiators, however, seemed unimpressed by another deadline when so many had already been lost during the four-year exit process.
An EU coastal nation official said the EU refused to cede more than a quarter of the fishing quotas the bloc would lose now that Britain regains full control of its waters due to Brexit. . Britain is also firm that a three-year transition period is 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 continued.
If a post-Brexit agreement is not reached, there will be more chaos on Britain’s borders with the EU in early 2021, when new tariffs would add to other trade impediments enacted by both sides. Talks have bogged down two main issues in recent days: EU access to UK fishing waters and guarantees of 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 from failing to reach a trade deal, most economists think the British economy would be more successful, 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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