[ad_1]
Trade talks between the UK and the EU continue with less than 48 hours to go before the deadline imposed by both parties to reach an agreement.
With both sides warning on Friday that a trade deal was unlikely, Boris Johnson met with Michael Gove, the minister responsible for Brexit planning, to “take stock” of plans for a no-deal exit from the EU. The UK is also preparing four Royal Navy patrol boats to help protect its fishing waters from January 1 in the event that no deal can be reached.
The 80-meter-long vessels, armed with machine guns, would have the power to stop, inspect and confiscate all EU fishing vessels operating within the UK’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), which can extend 200 miles away. the coast.
Speaking to reporters on a visit to Blyth in Northumberland on Friday, Johnson said that fishing was one of the two main impediments to a deal: the other is how to maintain fair competition once the UK can set its own standards. and regulations from the end of the transition period in three weeks.
On Saturday, Tobias Ellwood, Conservative Chairman of the Commons Defense Committee, called the threat to use Royal Navy gunboats to protect UK fishing waters irresponsible at a time of more pressing threats.
“Right now we are faced with the outrageous prospect of our overstretched Royal Navy taking on a close NATO ally for fishing vessel rights as we witness an increasing presence of Russian drone activity and underground activity. ; our adversaries must really be enjoying this blue-in-blue, “the former defense minister told BBC Radio 4’s Today program.
“This is no longer the Elizabethan era, this is the global UK – we have to raise the bar much higher than this.”
He said the focus should be on reaching an agreement, warning that failing to do so “would be so damaging to Britain – it would be a step backward, a failure of statecraft.”
French MEP Pierre Karleskind, chairman of the European Parliament’s fisheries committee, also warned of the consequences of not reaching an agreement, and called for calm on the potential deployment of Royal Navy vessels.
“Let’s keep calm. Let’s keep calm. I was looking at a history book, ”he told Times Radio. “The creation of the French Royal Navy was carried out in 1294 in response to naval battles between French and English fishermen. So this is a very, very long history between our two nations.
“You’re saying it’s about fish, but let’s think for just a few seconds. Do you really think that these are only fish that are used and will be used by the Navy ships? I do not think so. I think there are other interests such as border control, especially the issue of migrants ”.
He added: “I really think a no-deal would be a lose-deal deal. Lose for you, lose for us. I’m pretty sure of that. I don’t know if a deal would be win-win for everyone, but I’m absolutely sure a no-deal deal would be a lose or lose deal.
Johnson declared on Friday that a trade non-deal was “very likely” as Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel emerged as flatly rejecting his request for direct talks earlier in the week. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen issued a similar warning about the trajectory of the talks on Friday.
