Brussels is getting ready to backtrack on its demands for an automatic right to fish in British waters, The Times wrote adding EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier is understood to acknowledge that the UK has to be viewed as an independent coastal state that has power to determine what fishing quotas the bloc will annually enjoy.
British and European leaders authorised Barnier and David Frost, the UK’s negotiator, to privately set out the parameters for a forthcoming deal.
Speaking after a video call with Ursula von der Leyen, the European commission head, Boris Johnson said that it’s high time the sides put some “oomph” in the negotiations, adding that there was a very good chance of securing a trade deal by the end of the year. Both sides pledged to inject “new momentum” into the talks. Separately, both sides lauded their negotiators’ newly obtained authority to find “an early understanding on the principles underlying any agreement”.
Barnier is understood to have hinted at the concession during recent negotiations but has so far not made a clear-cut offer.
Fishing Provisions as Part of 'Whole Trade Deal'
As per EU sources, he was seeking to make sure that it was part of the wider trade deal to make it easier to assure EU countries such as France and the Netherlands who also have powerful fishing lobbies.
“To dilute the influence of France and the other coastal states, Barnier needs to have the whole trade deal, which stands or falls on fishing", a senior EU diplomatic source said, as cited by The Times.
“There have been signals that this is an area where Mr Barnier wants to move, but as yet there are no firm proposals on the table", a UK government source added.
Fishing Rights Debacle
At the end of the transition period Britain will be able to make use of its exclusive economic zone extending 200 miles from the shore. This means that other EU states will have no right to fish in these waters unless an agreement is reached with Britain to this end.
Before the new provisions come into force, under the EU’s common fisheries policy the fishing quota for certain species, which each member state receives, largely corresponds to how much they fished in the 1970s. Since the UK fleet spent much of its time around Iceland, which wasn't a member of the EU at the time, it received a smaller quota than other countries that have long fished in European waters. This makes the currently applied EU agreement unprofitable for Britain, which famously pulled out from the 27-member bloc on 31 January.
Now Britain seeks to attach its 200-mile exclusive fishing zone to that of the EU in return for a bigger share of the total catch, with this kind of zonal attachment requiring that the respective quotas be negotiated on a yearly basis.
