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A week before the end of the Brexit transition phase, negotiators from the European Union and Britain put the final touches on a comprehensive trade deal on Thursday. The pact aims to avoid fees and keep friction losses in the hundreds of billions of euros in economic ratios as low as possible. It is also intended to ensure access to British waters for EU fishermen and clarify many day-to-day issues, such as cooperation in the police, the judicial system or the power supply, but also student exchanges.
Despite a far-reaching agreement on key points on Wednesday, the last negotiations took place again on Christmas Eve. Even around noon, the last details were unclear, as said from the negotiating circles in Brussels. However, they continued to wait for a deal on Christmas Eve.
Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney blamed the perennial fish problem for the delays. Part of the fishing rules likely caused a catch at the last minute, Coveney told Irish broadcaster RTE. “I was hoping to talk about the big announcements from London and Brussels this morning, but we look forward to it later today.”
It was said from the negotiating circles that “the basic principles” on fish had already been agreed. According to this, EU fishermen in British waters should continue to have access to two-thirds of their previous fish quantities for the next few years. Other sources said it was 75 percent. These and other figures have not been officially confirmed. In the circles it was said that inconsistencies had emerged when examining the details. Problems must be solved first. How long could it take it stayed open. Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the head of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, are in contact, he said.
FDP foreign politician Alexander Graf Lambsdorff praised the emerging contract. Only 30,000 German companies were trading with Britain, “some of them actually had beads of sweat on their foreheads,” Lambsdorff said on Deutschlandfunk ahead of December 31. Then the transitional phase of Brexit will end and Britain will leave the EU internal market and the customs union. Without a contract, there is the risk of tariffs and therefore price increases, as well as trade barriers and border procedures much more extensive than with the agreement. If you are really successful in negotiating a trade free of tariffs and quantity restrictions, then that would be a good thing, Lambsdorff said. The leading deputy of the FDP parliamentary group in the Bundestag also called positive the agreement expected in the dispute over the access of EU fishermen to British waters. “Here it seems that we have managed to get European fishermen from the continent to retain at least 75 percent of the access they had until now for the next five years, and that is, of course, much more than what the French, Spanish, Portuguese expect. , Dutch and Belgians were allowed, “he said.
The 2000 page agreement with many special regulations and technical appendices now must be carefully scrutinized in the European Parliament. A provisional application is correct, said the FDP politician. As the time for ratification by the EU is too short, provisional application is the only way to avoid the dreaded economic breakdown at the end of the year with the agreement. The EU states were expected to initiate the necessary procedure on Thursday, provided all the details of the deal are finalized in time.
By Wednesday afternoon an agreement in principle had already been confirmed on the other important issue in the conflict: the EU’s demand for fair competition, the so-called level playing field. These are social, environmental and comparable subsidy rules to protect the EU internal market from dumping in the long term.
