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The German chancellor said France and other European Union nations would lose access to British waters if Britain leaves the transition period without a deal. She told a press conference: “The fish issue is not the only issue that still needs to be addressed and if we cannot come to an agreement with Great Britain then there will be no agreement on access to British fishing grounds, you too have you have to take that into account. ”Macron has become increasingly isolated in his attempt to secure the same level of access to Britain’s waters for European ships after the end of the year.
And Boris Johnson has now warned that he will withdraw from negotiations with the EU unless the bloc offers significant concessions.
Ms Merkel insisted that both parties would have to reach a compromise, including in the field of regulation.
She said: “We must also be willing to compromise. If we want to reach an agreement, both parties must make a move towards the other.
“This applies to a level playing field, as well as to the issue of governance and fishing, but fishing is far from the only problem.
“The most important thing is that if we accept and recognize that the UK wants to go its own way and doesn’t want to conform to certain single market rules, or wants to introduce new aid regimes that don’t exist in the European Union – then we need to have mechanisms for the new distance between the European Union and the UK legal framework, on how we react and what mechanisms we have to ensure that we have fair trade relations “.
Earlier today, Johnson urged companies to prepare for a no-deal Brexit because he would not commit to the EU unless the bloc changes its “fundamental approach.”
The Prime Minister said: “From the beginning, we were very clear that we wanted nothing more complicated than a Canadian-style relationship based on friendship and free trade. Judging from the last EU summit in Brussels, that will not work for our EU partners. They want the continued ability to control our legislative freedom, our fisheries, in a way that is completely unacceptable to an independent country.
“And since we only have ten weeks until the end of the transition period on January 1, I have to make a judgment on the likely outcome and prepare all of us. And given that they have been refusing to negotiate seriously for much of the past few months, and given that this summit seems to explicitly rule out a Canada-style deal, I have come to the conclusion that we should prepare as of January 1 with more arrangements. similar to Australia, based on simple principles of global free trade. And we can do it, because we always knew there would be a change on January 1, whatever type of relationship we had.
“And now is the time for our companies to prepare and for our carriers to prepare, for our travelers to prepare and, of course, we are ready to discuss the practicalities with our friends where much progress has already been made. on topics such as social security and aviation, nuclear cooperation, etc. But for whatever reason, it is clear at the summit that after 45 years of membership, they are unwilling, unless there is some fundamental change in approach, to offer this country the same terms as Canada. “
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said the intervention was “positive” and said the EU would now have to work on a compromise offer.
He told a press conference that European capitals must agree that he will not guarantee 100 percent of their demands in any post-Brexit trade deal with Britain.
Mr. Rutte said: “We will not get 100 percent of what we want, that is impossible in a negotiation, you always have to find a compromise.”
But Frenchman Emmanuel Macron stood his ground and refused to back down in the dispute over a post-Brexit trade deal.
He said: “It is not the job of the leaders of the 27 countries that have decided to stay in the EU to keep the British prime minister happy.”
“The British, regardless of what we told them during the vote, need the EU single market. They are more dependent on us than we are on them.”
“The British proposal is to access the single market without respecting the rules.
“It is unacceptable. We would put the single market in an impossible position that would allow permanent dumping by the British.”
On fisheries, Macron admitted that a no-deal Brexit would be a “victory” for British fishermen.
He said: “If there is no agreement, European fishermen will have no access to British waters. Thats the reality.
“If there is an agreement, will the situation be the same as today? No, that’s for sure.”
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