Reports are doing the rounds that the European Union is looking set to cave into UK demands regarding post-Brexit fishing arrangements and opportunities. The reports cite that the arrangement will be a break from the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy and will instead use a scientific divisional method that reflects the number of fish in UK waters.
Michel Barnier who is the EU’s chief negotiator has said that the EU could agree to the use of zonal attachment which is a key British request in the ongoing trade negotiations. However, in return Mr Barnier will want this coupled with other factors such as assessment of the economic impact on coastal communities.
Zonal attachment will benefit UK fisherman for a number of reasons, but one is that more fish have moved to British waters as a result of climate change since Common Fisheries Policy catch shares were set up. The EU has previously been insisting that EU boats should have the same access and conditions to UK waters they currently enjoy.
The transcript of a meeting on the 23rd of June was published yesterday and said : “I am waiting with much patience for a reply from the British side. If there is no response, there will be no agreement on fisheries and no agreement on trade”.
Mr Barnier then said : “You can discuss fishing stocks regularly every year in the light of the scientific advice, so that we can protect resources and biodiversity, but negotiating access to waters and the fish in those waters every year would be impossible for 100-odd species. There will be no trade agreement with the UK if there is no balanced agreement on fisheries. Is this ‘balanced agreement’ the British position, as it is now? Certainly not. Is it the European position as it is today? Clearly not”.
Current Affairs Correspondent | My name is Oliver Down I am 22, and a staunch brexiteer. I am a Bristolian lad who studied politics in Leicester. I believe in free speech and accurate journalism and I won’t be afraid to give you “the other side” of the story!
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