The European parliament has threatened the UK with sanctions if it reneges on any future pact on fishing rights, in a sign of the difficulties that lie ahead in months of intensive Brexit negotiations.
MEPs called on Britain to allow EU boats to retain their existing rights to fish in UK waters, as the assembly spelt out its demands for the two sides’ future relationship.
The assembly, voting in Brussels, will have a binding say on any future EU-UK trade deal, which will only be able to take effect with MEPs’ formal approval.
In a resolution adopted on Thursday, the parliament said it would insist “on the need for an overarching governance framework” that would allow the EU to hit the UK with punitive duties on British exports if the country suddenly tried to block European vessels from fishing.
The arrangements should “ensure that any breaches of provisions concerning reciprocal access to waters and resources can be subject to sanctions, including the suspension of preferential tariffs for UK goods in the EU market”, the MEPs said.
The EU’s bid to lock down established fishing rights will be one of the most contentious issues on the table when EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier and his UK counterpart David Frost begin a concentrated period of negotiations at the end of this month.
Boris Johnson, UK prime minister, has called for an all-out effort to make a breakthrough in the talks by the end of July, while EU diplomats think the crunch point will probably come in September given the volume of work needed.
Mr Barnier has identified fish as one of the four main sticking points that have bedevilled the future-relationship talks since they began in March, with the others being EU demands for a regulatory “level playing field”, disagreements over security co-operation and different visions for how the new partnership would be governed.
Thursday’s parliament resolution echoes many of the core positions in the formal negotiating mandate that EU governments gave to Mr Barnier earlier this year, including that the deal should uphold existing fishing rights in British sovereign waters, which can stretch as far as 200 nautical miles from the UK coastline.
Britain has rejected the demands as unacceptable given the country’s post-Brexit status as an “independent coastal state” and has instead suggested that access to waters and respective fishing rights be left to annual negotiations between the EU and UK. But the EU argues this would plunge its sector into uncertainty.
Mr Barnier earlier this week warned European affairs ministers from the 27 EU member states that Brussels as well as London would have to compromise to secure a deal on fishing, saying talks would remain deadlocked if both sides stuck to “maximalist” positions.
The EU parliament resolution contains some cheer for the UK. The assembly called on the two sides to rapidly conclude “equivalence” assessments that will determine future market access for the City of London, a core British objective.
MEPs also backed British calls for the EU and UK to reach agreements on asylum policy, including on readmission of asylum seekers who cross the Channel. The EU currently has no negotiating position on this issue and governments are reflecting on what to do.
The EU parliament also underlined that both sides should uphold rights guaranteed by last year’s Brexit deal for EU and UK citizens living abroad. Michael Gove, UK cabinet office minister, wrote to Brussels last month to complain that British citizens were finding it hard to navigate the bureaucratic procedures imposed at national level by some EU governments.
MEPs urged EU capitals “to fully respect and protect the rights of UK citizens living in the EU under the Withdrawal Agreement and to give them all the information they need and legal certainty about their situation and rights, including whether they are implementing a constitutive or a declaratory residence scheme”.
