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reNegotiations on economic relations between the EU and Great Britain from the new year are still pending, despite a shortage of time. The main question was whether and to what extent EU fishermen would continue to have access to British waters, as announced by both sides on Sunday. In fact, the European Parliament had set a deadline until midnight Sunday for a deal, so that the deal could still be examined and voted on before the end of the year.
But even this deadline threatened to expire shortly before it expired, making it increasingly likely that Britain will leave the EU for good without a deal at the end of the year, with potentially serious economic consequences, tariffs and other trade barriers. Because the transition period ends on December 31st, during which time Great Britain, although it had already left the EU at the end of January 2020, was still part of the EU customs union and internal market.
The deal is on the brink
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s office said the EU continues to make demands that are incompatible with the country’s independence. “We cannot accept an agreement that does not leave us in control of our own laws or waters,” he wrote. The EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, admitted that both sides should control their waters. But the EU must also be able to act when its interests are at stake.
While fishing is a small part of the EU and UK economies, differences on this issue delay the whole thing. The EU wants its fishermen to continue fishing in British waters, while the British government insists on having control there.
The issue is sensitive on both sides. Control of their own waters was one of the main reasons that led the British to vote to leave the EU in 2016. Johnson cannot afford to back down. From an EU point of view, British waters have been used by other countries for decades, if not centuries. If fishermen in EU coastal nations did not have sufficient access to the fishing grounds, Brussels threatens to impose tariffs on British fish.
