Michel Barnier warned on Thursday of “very, very difficult” areas of disagreement with the UK after the first round of negotiations on the EU’s future relationship with the UK ended in Brussels.
Mr Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, said this week’s meetings highlighted four areas of “very serious divergence” including fishing rights in UK waters, the role of the European Court of Justice, Britain’s determination not to align with EU rules, and how any future deal is policed.
Mr Barnier was particularly critical of Britain’s insistence that fishing rights to its waters are decided by annual negotiations with the EU, something the British government says reflects its future status as an independent coastal state.
“This is absolutely impractical,” he said. “It is [a] dangerous job; we have a lot of respect for men and women that do that job, they deserve visibility [about future quotas],” Mr Barnier said.
After weeks of noisy build-up, talks on the future relationship between the UK and EU finally got under way on Monday with more than 200 officials from both sides involved in the discussions at a conference centre near the centre of Brussels.
Britain and Brussels have pledged to work intensively to reach an agreement by the end of this year, when the UK post-Brexit transition period is due to end, meaning the country will leave the EU’s single market and customs union.
But the two sides have entered the negotiations with opposing positions on a number of critical areas. David Frost, the UK’s chief negotiator, has emphasised Britain’s determination to escape the EU’s regulatory orbit and assert its sovereign rights, while the EU’s starting point is that extensive market access must be linked to respect for the bloc’s rules.
A UK government spokesperson said: “These are going to be tough negotiations — this is just the first round.” The British negotiation team “made clear that, on 1 January 2021, we would regain our legal and economic independence — and that the future relationship must reflect that fact”, the spokesperson added.
Mr Barnier said there would be no EU-UK trade agreement unless Britain gives ground on fish. The EU has entered the future relationship negotiations seeking to retain its existing rights to fish in British waters, and to strike a deal that gives long term certainty to its anxious fleet.
“A balanced solution on fish has to be part of the trade deal, if we want a trade deal,” he said.
The EU chief negotiator also warned that sharing of crucial law-enforcement information, such as DNA data, will not be possible unless Britain backs down in its opposition to the ECJ having a role in the future relationship as the ultimate interpreter of EU law.
“If the UK position is maintained, this will have an immediate and concrete effect on our level of co-operation,” he said.
Linked to this, the chief negotiator also said Britain’s refusal to make binding commitments to continue upholding the European Convention of Human Rights posed a threat to future judicial and security co-operation.
But there are also other obstacles to future law enforcement co-operation. The EU has warned UK authorities will not be able to access some databases after the end of Britain’s transition period because it is not legally possible for the EU to open them to countries outside the union and the Schengen travel-free area.
A senior UK official said: “On criminal justice we set out a pragmatic offer. In some areas there are clear third-country arrangements where it was possible to have a decent conversation. In others it was more difficult.”
Another area of disagreement is Brussels’s demand that Britain sign up to a “level playing field” of common rules in exchange for a tariff-free, quota-free trade deal, including full compliance with the bloc’s state-aid restrictions.
The UK has likened the demands to vassalage, but Mr Barnier said he did not understand why the UK could not sign up given its insistence that it will, in any case, maintain existing high regulatory standards.
On governance, Britain is seeking a future relationship based on what Mr Barnier described as “a multitude” of deals covering different areas of co-operation, whereas the EU wants an overarching agreement with one single dispute-settlement system.
“This is not an ideological question, it is a practical question,” Mr Barnier said. “We need an agreement that can stand the test of time” and allow a “rapid” response when one side breaches its obligations, he said.
Mr Barnier said he “sincerely” believed a future relationship deal “is possible even if difficult”, noting that areas of convergence do exist, such as on civil nuclear co-operation.
Brussels also announced the first meeting of the “joint committee” that will oversee the implementation of last year’s Brexit “divorce” deal will take place on March 30.
The group will be responsible for reviewing issues such as each side’s respect for citizens’ rights and the crucial matter of Britain’s pledge to put in place regulatory and customs checks on goods entering Northern Ireland.
Source: Economy - ft.com
