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The European Parliament set Sunday as the deadline to approve the agreement text for ratification before Britain leaves the EU single market in less than two weeks.
However, both sides in the intense negotiations in Brussels now expect the negotiations to continue beyond the latest deadlines throughout the chain. Both parties to the negotiations ask each other to land in the fishery.
Without the deal, Britain’s participation in the European project will end in a new tariff barrier that would increase the impact of ending half a century of ever closer political and economic partnership.
“We continue to try all possible ways to reach an agreement, but without major [Europos] “We will withdraw from the terms of the WTO (World Trade Organization) on December 31,” said a British government source.
But a European diplomat had told AFP that Brussels had made its best offer and now UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, currently distracted by the growing coronavirus crisis in the country, has to decide if he wants a deal.
“Everything could continue during Christmas; The UK is still wondering if it wants to pay the price for unprecedented opportunities to participate in the domestic market, the diplomat said. – The EU has made it clear this weekend that it wants to reach a compromise on fisheries. But it will not accept the expulsion of fishermen from the EU … from business. The narrow path to agreement has now become the only narrow path that will soon end. “
During the difficult negotiations, efforts are being made to reach an agreement before December 31st. In the absence of an agreement, chaos could ensue at the EU-UK border, where long lines of trucks are already running out.
Britain intends to control its waters from January 1, but is willing to allow EU fishing vessels under new conditions during the transition period.
British negotiator David Frost wants Britain to recover more than half of the fishing quotas currently available to the EU under a three-year deal.
Europeans argue that the UK as a whole cannot participate duty-free in the EU single market unless it agrees to recoup just a quarter of fishing quotas and a seven-year transition period.
Fishermen “issued”
The issue is very sensitive both for Great Britain and for EU members such as France, Holland, Belgium or Denmark. Diplomatic sources acknowledge that the entire trade package could collapse as a result.
“We cannot make a deal where we cannot control our own laws or waters,” said a UK government source. He said that the EU “continues to make demands that are incompatible with [britų] independence ”.
EU fishermen fear losing fishing opportunities in the UK’s rich fishing grounds and, at the same time, a source of livelihood.
“We are betrayed,” the European Fisheries Alliance (EUFA) said in a statement calling on EU negotiator Michel Barnier to support the fishermen.
There is very little time left to reach an agreement.
The European Parliament stressed that the deadline for the presentation of the agreement was midnight on Sunday (Monday at 1am Lithuanian time). It is said that only then could the European Parliament consider it and ratify it before the end of the year.
UK MPs are not currently working, but may be invited to ratify the deal within 48 hours.
EU capitals have not recognized any deadlines and officials say they could ratify the deal temporarily to avoid a “divorce” without the economic impact of the deal.
The virus crisis
The importance of an urgent agreement is also demonstrated by the long lines of trucks at the crossing of freight trains in the tunnel under the English Channel, which stretched out as British companies piled up feverishly.
A group of UK MPs warned on Saturday that Britain had failed to put in place the complex IT systems and port infrastructure needed to ensure smooth trade with the EU.
The situation is further complicated by the coronavirus epidemic. In south-east England, where a tunnel begins under the English Channel and there are ferry ports, a strict quarantine was again announced this weekend, as a new, more contagious strain of coronavirus is spreading there.
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