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Britain and the EU moved closer to a compromise on fisheries on Monday in an attempt to unlock a Brexit trade deal, as Boris Johnson looked on Dec. 30 for a last-gasp parliamentary vote on a deal.
Raoul Ruparel, a former adviser for Europe to former Prime Minister Theresa May, who remains well connected in Whitehall, suggested that the EU and the UK could find a solution to a pending issue holding up a deal: the bloc’s fishing rights in British waters. after Brexit.
Meanwhile, the prime minister’s allies said any trade deal reached now would likely have to be voted on by MPs and peers between Christmas and New Years, and an emergency parliamentary session is being planned.
Britain’s chief negotiator David Frost and his EU counterpart Michel Barnier are haggling over cuts in fishing quotas for EU vessels operating in UK waters after Brexit and for any period transition for the industry.
Ruparel suggested in an article for Politico that a pledge on fishing could mean that EU rights in UK waters, which are currently worth around € 650 million a year, are cut by 35 percent. during a transition period of five years.
In recent days, the EU has offered a 25 percent cut during a six-year transition, a proposal with which France is deeply uncomfortable and which has sparked outrage from the bloc’s fishing industry.
Several people close to the EU talks said they understood that the UK’s current position on quotas and transition was close to Ruparel’s proposal.
British officials denied that the UK had made a new offer along the lines suggested by Mr Ruparel, saying only that the two sides were “widely separated” and that the negotiations were “brutally complicated”.
Mr Ruparel also proposed a mechanism to address the EU’s concerns about what should happen after the fisheries transition period if the UK insisted on further quota cuts: the possibility of the bloc imposing tariffs to recoup any economic losses, and that cost will be determined by an arbitration panel.
In extremis, he suggested, the EU could withdraw from any trade deal, which would include a rescission clause.
Barnier said last week that some system would be needed to link future EU fishing rights in UK waters with Britain’s access to the bloc’s single market, saying it was a matter of justice.
Johnson’s spokesman said “significant differences” persist between the two sides, with fisheries and the so-called level playing field for fair business competition the outstanding issues.
But the atmosphere seemed to improve Monday after Johnson had what he said was an “excellent conversation” with French President Emmanuel Macron.
The two leaders did not discuss the talks: Johnson accepted that the European Commission was leading the negotiations for the EU, but Macron’s offer to help restart cargo movements between Dover and Calais after the French government halted them on Monday due to to the last Covid. The -19 variant in the UK was rated positive in London.
The apparent evolution of both parties’ positions on fishing marks a considerable change.
Last month, the EU held the position that it would not sacrifice more than 18 percent of its rights in UK waters, while Britain wanted to seize 80 percent of them.
If a trade deal is concluded in the next few days, the legislation to enshrine the deal in UK law is likely to pass through parliament with limited scrutiny.
Government experts said December 30 was now the “most likely” date for any deal to pass through parliament: the day before the transition ends.
The European Parliament has ruled out voting to ratify any deal before the end of the year, after Sunday’s deadline for a deal was passed. Brussels is now exploring the legal option of taking any agreement to “provisional application” before a ratification vote.
Johnson faces pressure from politicians, including Scottish Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon, to seek an extension of the transition. But it has rejected such a move that EU officials warned that it would require the negotiation of a new international treaty that would have to be ratified in all member states.
