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Michel Barnier is warning the UK that there will be NO Brexit trade deal by the end of the year unless Downing Street gives in on the crucial fishing rights issue by the end of next month.
- Post-Brexit trade talks between the UK and the EU remain at a standstill
- The EU is convinced that the fisheries problem must be resolved before talks can move forward
- But the UK is increasingly angered by the EU’s refusal to speak out on other issues.
Michel Barnier warned today that the UK risks secession from the European Union at the end of the year without a trade deal unless Downing Street gives in on the crucial issue of fishing rights.
The bloc’s top Brexit negotiator said he is “concerned and disappointed” after informal discussions with his British counterpart David Frost this week ended in failure.
He said Britain had made no concessions or signaled its willingness to engage in key areas to break the current deadlock.
Barnier reiterated that the general terms of an agreement must be in effect before the “strict deadline” at the end of next month for it to be ratified by the end of the transition period on December 31.
Continued access to UK waters for EU fishing vessels, as well as the demand for Britain to adhere to a “level playing field” on rules and regulations, remain the main sticking points of the talks.
Barnier said that if Number 10 “does not advance on the issues that are the key issues of the EU … the UK will risk not reaching an agreement.”
Michel Barnier, the EU’s top Brexit negotiator, said today that the UK will have to compromise for progress to be made in trade talks.
Speaking after a speech delivered by the expert group of the Dublin Institute of International and European Affairs, Mr Barnier said: ‘We need a breakthrough, we have to move forward.
“If the UK wants a deal with us and a fair deal for tariff- and quota-free access for British access to our market of 450 million consumers, then they will have to move and it is their choice, it is their responsibility.
“We are ready to make a fair and constructive compromise, but not to the detriment of the EU.”
Number 10 has said that he believes a trade deal is still possible, but that “it is clear that it will not be easy to achieve.”
An eighth round of formal talks will begin in London next week. Barnier said earlier this month that the discussions had actually gone “backwards.”
He said today: ‘We didn’t see any change in the UK’s position. That is why I publicly express that I am concerned and disappointed that, frankly, we have moved. I have shown a clear openness to find a compromise.
“If they don’t make progress on the issues that are the key EU issues, level playing field, fisheries and governance, the UK will risk not reaching a deal.”
The EU wants current agreements on access to British waters for bloc fishing vessels to continue, but Number 10 insists that UK trawlers will be given priority after the transition period.
Brussels also wants the UK to adhere to a “level playing field” commitment that would mean sticking to EU rules and regulations in the future to avoid unfair competition.
Mr Barnier said the EU will not accept that the livelihoods of fishermen and women “be used as a bargaining chip in these negotiations”.
And he said ‘good luck, good luck’ to those who say that leaving without a trade agreement has opportunities.
“Frankly speaking, there is no reason to underestimate the consequences for many people, many sectors, of a no agreement; it will be a huge difference between an agreement and a no agreement,” he added.
