Johnson hit by French demands to fish UK waters
Renewed pressure on the PM over key issue that could sway Brexiteers against possible agreement
‘If the UK wants access to the EU for its fish, then the EU will want access for its fishing boats. One cannot be separated from the other’
FRANCE is leading a last-minute push to force Boris Johnson to give EU boats access to British fishing waters after Brexit as the price for an agreement taking the UK out of the EU, The Daily Telegraph can reveal.
The incendiary demand will heap pressure on the Prime Minister domestically because it risks turning cleanbreak Brexiteers, who view the reclamation of UK coastal waters as non-negotiable, against the deal.
France is supported by countries including Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands and Denmark, whose fishermen regularly work British waters.
“If the UK wants tariff-free access to EU markets for its fish, then the EU will want access for its fishing boats. One cannot be separated from the other,” said a senior EU diplomat.
The condition is understood to be a key bone of contention in negotiations over the non-binding political declaration on the EU-UK future relationship.
Mr Johnson is understood to be asking for a commitment to a “zero-tariff, zero-quota” free trade agreement (FTA) with the EU after Brexit, but European capitals are determined that any such deal comes with “level-playing field” commitments.
The EU warned in March 2018 that the UK cannot have a zero-tariff Canada-style free trade deal without “robust guarantees” that it would follow EU rules on “competition and state aid, tax, social, environment and regulatory measures and practices”.
The guidelines also warned that, in the overall context of any FTA, “existing reciprocal access to fishing waters and resources should be maintained”.
As the talks dragged on in Brussels yesterday, EU diplomats warned that Mr Johnson could not have a commitment to such an FTA without acknowledging the EU’S trade-offs. One senior EU diplomat said that level playing-field guarantees preventing a post-Brexit “Singapore-on-thames” in the political declaration on the future trading relationship were “at least as important as the exit agreement”.
Another warned there was no prospect of EU leaders agreeing to a new withdrawal agreement separately to the political declaration. “The level playing field guarantees are fundamental, necessary and indispensable for an agreement,” the diplomat added.
The reclamation of fishing grounds is seen as a talismanic issue for many Brexiteers, but since about 75 per cent of fish caught in UK waters is exported, mostly to the European Union, access to the market will be critical.
The issue has a history of bedevilling Brexit talks. In 2018, EU leaders were furious at what they saw as a lack of guarantees for their fishermen in Theresa May’s Withdrawal Agreement.
They used the political declaration to warn Mrs May that she would only get a trade deal with Brussels if she gave EU fleets access to UK waters.
“The Parties should establish a new fisheries agreement on, inter alia, access to waters and quota shares. The Parties will use their best endeavours to conclude and ratify their new fisheries agreement by 1 July 2020,” the 2018 declaration said.
The new declaration is looking increasingly likely to contain language that is at least as tough.