Another Brexit deadline blown
Right to control waters was key element of divorce from EU
BRUSSELS — With yet another Brexit deadline disappearing in the rearview mirror, a breakthrough on fishing rights remained elusive for the European Union and Britain on Sunday — leaving both without a trade agreement that would dull that cutting edge of a chaotic, costly economic break on New Year’s Day.
With hundreds of thousands of jobs at stake throughout the economy, the tiny sector of fisheries continued to drive a wedge between the 27-nation bloc and the U.K., highlighting the animosity that drove them to a Brexit divorce over the past four years. Britain left the bloc in January, but a 11-month economic transition period ends on Dec. 31.
“We continue to work hard,” EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier said in a statement as light faded over EU headquarters on Sunday.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s office said that the EU is “continuing to make demands that are incompatible with our independence. We cannot accept a deal that doesn’t leave us in control of our own laws or waters.”
Barnier didn’t question that both sides “have the right to set their own laws & control their own waters.” But, he countered, “we should both be able to act when our interests are at stake.”
The fighting words took away all hope that a deal could be found before midnight, which the European Parliament had set as a deadline if it was to have enough time to vet and approve the deal before New Year’s. Officials on both sides said positions had hardly moved throughout the weekend of near-continuous talks.
A senior British government official said that both sides “have been negotiating throughout the day and expect to continue tomorrow. Talks remain difficult and significant differences remain.”
The European Parliament’s top Brexit legislators are set to meet Monday to assess their options anew after their deadline was flatly disregarded by both sides.
The almost-mythical sense of Britain’s rights to rule its waves was an essential part of what drove Brexiteers to victory in the 2016 referendum. Johnson is seeking to make sure that as much as possible of the shared British waters are now returned to U.K. vessels only.
The EU has always maintained that those waters have been shared for decades, if not centuries, and insists if too many fishing rights are taken away, it will punish Britain.