Brussels will demand Britain grant EU boats access to our waters before agreeing trade deal
A bombshell document revealed just a day before Theresa May is to fly to Brussels to try and secure her EU deal shows EU nations are pushing hard for us to roll over on fishing rights
BRUSSELS will this weekend insist Britain signs off on a fishing agreement granting EU boats access to our waters before a trade deal can come into force.
EU leaders are set to issue the bombshell demand at Sunday’s summit in a major blow to Theresa May’s hopes of getting her Brexit pact past parliament.
A leaked planning document, seen by The Sun, reveals capitals will state a fisheries deal must be done “well before” the end of the transition.
The explosive ultimatum, contained in a draft one page EU statement, infuriated Eurosceptics who fear coastal communities will be sold out.
It mirrors the ‘sequencing’ row two years ago when the EU insisted Britain agree to a divorce deal before talks about trade could begin.
And Brexiteers fear it will allow the EU to drag their feet on a new trade agreement.
The new document says: “The Council will demonstrate particular vigilance on the necessity to protect fishing enterprises and coastal communities.
“A fisheries agreement is a matter of priority and should build on, inter alia, existing reciprocal access and quota shares.
“Such an agreement should be negotiated well before the end of the transition period.”
In the Political Declaration on trade that came out on Thursday, the UK and EU committed to reaching a deal on fishing by July 1, 2020.
That date has been chosen as it is when London and Brussels will have to decide whether to extend the transition or trigger the Irish backstop.
Member States demanded the new pledge after being enraged that the UK-wide customs solution to the border contained no provisions on access to waters.
It means a fishing pact would almost certainly have to be signed before talks on a trade deal with the bloc are concluded, giving Brussels huge leverage.
European capitals made their move after complaining the EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier went too soft on Britain in the final leg of the negotiations.
The new declaration won’t be part of the Brexit deal itself but will set the EU’s own red lines for future trade talks.
It goes further than the Political Declaration, which leaves open the idea of a Norway-style deal linking waters access to tariffs on fish products.
Speaking about the fishing section of the trade plan, a senior EU diplomat told The Sun: “This is very difficult. We want more and this isn’t enough.
“It’s just the start of a new phase. In the end we said OK in the trust and best endeavour of trying to get to something much more than what’s in here.”
Tory backbenchers demanded that Mrs May make a cast iron commitment in writing to take back control of our waters in response to the revelations.
Ross Thomson told The Sun: “I’m very worried by this wording about building on existing arrangements because they’re appalling as they are.
“It’s understandable the EU want to keep the status quo because it’s very much in their interest rather than the British interest.
“It’s the reason why a lot of people voted to leave in the first place, because of the impacts these policies have had on their own communities.”
Mr Thomson is one of 13 Scottish Conservative MPs threatening to vote against the deal in Parliament over fishing.
And he said: “The EU putting that out will make it incredibly difficult. Theresa May is going to have to be more categorical.
“We need it in writing, in black and white, not nice words from the dispatch box. If it looks like the CFP and sounds like the CFP then it’s the CFP.
“I could never accept linking access to our fishing waters to any kind of future economic partnership.”
Member States drew up the plan after conceding it’s too late to significantly change the Political Declaration, which is a joint EU-UK document.
The drive to toughen up the bloc’s stance on fishing is being spearheaded by France, Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain, Belgium and Germany.
EU countries’ original trade guidelines, from March, state: “In the overall context of the FTA, existing reciprocal access to fishing waters and resources should be maintained.”
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