The Times - UK (2020-10-14)

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Angela Merkel has warned the Euro-

pean Union that it must be more realis-

tic in accepting Britain’s negotiating

position in fishing and trade talks ahead

of tomorrow’s critical summit of leaders.

The German chancellor said Brus-

sels had to accept that any deal must be

in the interests of the UK and the EU.

Her comments came as British sources

blamed EU divisions and sabre-rattling

from France for the missing of a dead-

line to find agreement this week.

Mrs Merkel, who holds the EU presi-

dency, told a meeting of European may-

ors that a deal was “particularly urgent

from the Irish perspective”.

“We are going to continue to stand

together in these withdrawal talks,” she

said. “But we also have to take into

account the reality: an agreement has

to be in the interests of both parties, in

British interests as well as the interests

of the 27-member EU.”

Over recent days, senior French gov-

ernment ministers have warned the EU

to show “no weakness” over demands

that European fishermen keep the same

fishing rights in British waters after the

end of Brexit transition next year.

Michel Barnier, the EU’s lead negoti-

ator, told a meeting of foreign ministers

that negotiations were in a “difficult

phase” but more “constructive than

recently” while highlighting three main

areas of disagreement on future

subsidy controls, enforcement and fish-

ing.

He signalled British movement on

agreeing to binding “common princi-

ples” on subsidy controls as showing a

“constructive spirit”.

Lord Frost, the British chief negotia-

tor, blamed EU squabbling for the lack

of an “outline” agreement this week.

“The EU have been using the old

playbook in which they thought run-

ning down the clock would work against

the UK,” a government source said. “All

these tactics have achieved is to get us to

the middle of October with lots of work

left undone. This is all the more frustrat-

ing because we have come a long way

since the beginning of the year.”

During a cabinet meeting yesterday,

the prime minister said Britain should

have “no fear” of leaving without a deal.

Mr Johnson will hold a video call

with Ursula von der Leyen, the presi-

dent of the European Commission, this

evening before deciding after tomor-

row’s summit whether to call off negoti-

ations as he has previously threatened.

His remarks have angered the EU

side and Michael Roth, Germany’s

Europe minister, said that negotiations

needed to work their full course by the

end of the month before talk of “a scen-

ario without an agreement”.

“Let me be clear, this is a message to

our British friends, no one should play

down the risks of a no deal,” he said.

After a meeting with Mr Barnier,

Simon Coveney, Ireland’s foreign min-

ister, said there would be no major

breakthrough this week and dismissed

British and EU rhetoric over the dead-

line for being a matter of a “few days”.

“There are a number of weeks left,

not a number of days,” he said.

Fishing has emerged as the most diffi-

cult area after France told other EU

governments that a no-deal outcome

was better than compromise on access

to British waters for European boats.

Mr Barnier said that “both sides

would have to show domestic public

audiences that they had won something

on fishing”.

Charles Michel, the president of the

European Council, wrote that an agree-

ment “is in the interests of both sides”.

Letters, page 28

Industry ‘failing’ on Brexit, page 35

Merkel calls for realism from EU

Bruno Waterfield Brussels

Oliver Wright, Graeme Paton
Making waves
UK fishing waters
Exclusive economic zones (EEZ)

UK

EU

EEA

High Seas

Other

UK

Employment from fishing Engaged crew

Spain

34,

Norway

26,

Italy

25,

France

13,

UK

11,

Ireland

3,

Netherlands

2,

Total annual catch of fish

Catches in the NE Atlantic

Norway

Spain

UK

France

Netherlands

Italy

2.28m

2.28m

879, 961

696,

587,

411,

201, 938

*provisional

**2017 data

689,

435,432*

393,

305,

246,759**

Tonnes live weight, 2018

Fish taken from UK waters

UK

EU

Norway

Faroe Is

UK in EU waters

UK

585

EU

793.

Faroe Is

42.

Norway

207.

Weight in 000s of tonnes

Value

£814.7m

£677.6m

£150m

£26.7m

£111.6m

Total tonnage of fishing fleets Total fishing quota

Norway

Spain

UK

France

Netherlands

Italy

(Average UK fishing vessel is 30 tonnes)

331,

191,

177,

120,

146,

393,

Total quota Foreign owned

Scotland

England

Northern

Ireland

Wales

£523m

£23.9m

£293.2m

£160.1m

£72.6m

£1.2m

£1.7m

£1.4m

Total fishing quota

To t a l quota Foreign owned

Scotland

£5 2 3m

European fishing states by foreign

ownership (% of quota)

Belgium

Denmark

UK

Ireland

Spain

Iceland*

Norway*

*Non-EU

Figures from

Defra and

European

Commission

2019 figures

from Defra and

European

Commission

25.2%

18.5%

13.4%

2.3%

2.3%

0%

0%

Source: Eurostat, Institute for

Government, NAFC Marine Centre,

European Commission

Norway

UK

France

Netherlands

Spain

Ireland

Fishing is small fry

but it could sink deal

Fishing accounts for just

0.12 per cent of the UK’s

GDP, which is nearly 60

times less than that of

financial services, yet it

could be the issue that

scuppers hopes of a deal.

While the government has

accepted that access to EU

markets will be limited for

British financial firms after

leaving, fishing remains a

battleground.

So why is fishing such a

critical issue in the Brexit

talks?

It may be of little economic

importance but it is

politically totemic.

Brexiteers, like Boris

Johnson, fought the

referendum on a pledge to

take back control of British

waters and to abandon that

now would be seen as a huge

political betrayal.

And fishing has electoral

significance. The vast

majority of coastal seats

across England, where

fishing still has a practical or

emotional resonance, are

held by the Conservatives. In

2019 the party added to that

tally by winning traditionally

Labour seats such as Great

Grimsby primarily on the

back of Mr Johnson’s

promises on fishing.

To sell out fishing at the

11th hour could have very

real electoral repercussions.

Then there is Scotland.

Scottish fishing amounts to

almost half the UK total.

Failure to secure a fishing

deal would strengthen the

SNP’s argument for

independence.

Why is Brussels unwilling

to compromise?

EU member states have

similar problems to the UK:

economically the stakes are

small but politically they are

large for countries such as

France, Ireland, Belgium and

the Netherlands, who are

concerned by the loss of

fishing grounds in the

Channel, North Sea and

Atlantic.

Take only one species of

fish, Channel cod, where

quotas are mainly shared

between the UK and France.

At present the UK’s quota is

about 10 per cent of the total

allowable catch while French

fisherman have over 80 per

cent of the quota.

Do British fishermen have

complete control over our

present quotas?

No. Recent research showed

that foreign companies own

the rights to catch more than

130,000 tonnes of fish, which

is worth more than half of

England’s total fishing quota.

This is either because over

the years foreign operators

have bought up British

companies with fishing

quota allowances or because

they had historical rights to

them.

Brexiteers say that because

of the UK’s membership of

the single market — that

requires the free movement

of goods and capital — the

government has been

powerless to intervene.

In a concession won by

Tony Blair, present EU rules

say that even if vessels are

100 per cent foreign-owned

they must have an

“economic link” to the UK.

That means they must

meet one of five conditions,

which include landing more

than half their catch at UK

ports or having majority

British crews.

Could the government

regain control of these

quotas from foreign

operators after Brexit?

Not without changing the

law and facing a messy legal

fight that ministers have

indicated that they do not

intend to pursue. Instead the

emphasis will be on

strengthening the rules

around “economic links” and

ensuring that future UK

quota licences that are

granted bring economic

benefits to UK fishing

communities. The

government intends to

publish a consultation in the

coming weeks setting out

how it will go about issuing

new quotas when we are no

longer part of the common

fisheries policy.

Could Britain’s fishing fleet

actually catch the increased

quotas we might get as a

result of Brexit?

The National Federation of

Fishermen’s organisations

claims that they could. They

say that at present many

vessels are lying dormant in

port for long periods or are

forced to discard fish

because they have gone over

their allocated quotas.

How likely is a deal?

Fishing is not only the most

politically fraught part of the

negotiations but also one of

the most complex. Not only

will a framework agreement

have to be put in place but

individual deals must be

reached on quota shares

across about 100 species.

The UK side is hoping that

if compromises can be

reached in all the other

contentious areas of the

negotiation then pressure

will be intense from non-

fishing states on countries

such as France to give

ground.

What happens if there is no

deal?

Ultimately it will be bad for

both sides. The problem for

the UK is that we don’t tend

to eat the fish that we catch.

About 80 per cent of the fish

that we catch is exported, of

which 60 per cent is sent to

the EU.

For example about four

fifths of UK shellfish is sold

to the continent and the

industry would face

prohibitive tariffs in the

event of no-deal that would

put many fishermen out of

business. But equally if there

is no agreement EU fishing

fleets would lose access to

Britain’s 200 miles of

territorial waters also putting

many out of business.