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The European Union is behaving “like the bully who steals your lunch every day and hopes the UK is grateful for a few crumbs it returns” during the Brexit talks, the Scottish fisherman leader said.
Elspeth MacDonald, executive director of the Scottish Fishermen’s Association, said the EU had to “wake up and smell the fish” after its negotiators offered to give the UK fish “of which we are now the legal owner”.
The fishermen spoke when Michel Barnier, the EU’s top negotiator, started new talks on a Brexit trade deal in London with his British counterpart Lord Frost.
That came after well-founded reports in Brussels that Barnier told member states that the EU had offered to return between 15% and 18% of the fish stocks caught by EU fleets in British waters.
The tortuous talks on a Brexit trade deal between the EU and the UK will come to a conclusion within the next week with either a trade deal or the departure of both parties.
Writing for The Telegraph, Ms MacDonald attacked the EU’s stance and its “miserable” offer on fishing to the UK.
She said: “Let’s get to the point. The EU is playing a dangerous game with fishing and it is they who would suffer the most.”
“If trade is balanced, access to water is not. They depend on fishing in our rich waters much more than we do in theirs. When it comes to access, there is a huge imbalance in the way they are shared. fish.
“The threat of making the UK pay a ransom for simply acting in a way that the EU itself acts in its relations with other countries or coastal states is the other way around.
“They say that if we don’t give them what they want, most of the quotas in our waters and unlimited access to catch it, then we can forget about selling our fish to them. No. They’re on it. And they’ve been wrong.”
What the UK water border would look like after Brexit
Ms. MacDonald continued: “If they don’t stop threatening our exports, then they can say goodbye to any fisheries deal. And face the consequence: not having access to our waters.”
“Maybe, just maybe, they are finally waking up to smell the fish. They have made a small offer to give us a negligible extra portion. It would be less than 10 percent of the total catch. Of the fish now the legal owner.
“He’s like the bully who steals your lunch every day and hopes you’re grateful for the few crumbs he returns.
“But maybe, just maybe, now they know that their threats are hollow, that international law is not on their side and that they have a lot to lose.”
