Brexit is back. The British have now left the European Union, but the two parties are still arguing about their future relationship. Time is running out and the news is piling up quickly, so we’ll have a quick update on what happened this week.
It was a week in which a lot changed, but also a lot remained the same. The British left the negotiating table a week earlier because, according to the islanders, negotiations no longer make sense until the EU “fundamentally changes its attitude”.
That needed change comes five days later, when chief negotiator Michel Barnier addresses the European Parliament on the negotiations. The Frenchman knows how to hit the right note on the other side of the Channel, by emphasizing the word “sovereignty” several times, among other things. Barnier called sovereignty, among other things, “a legitimate concern” of the British Prime Minister.
Why is that so important? With slogans like ‘Take back controlBrexit advocates in the UK have been insisting on their sovereignty for some time. They want the British to decide themselves as much as possible and not be subordinate to the bureaucratic Brussels they hate.
These Brexit supporters, who are also in charge in London, think that the independence of the EU is still not highlighted enough in the negotiations. For example, the EU wants the UK to adhere to certain standards, which goes against the British notion of sovereignty.
Speech is welcomed, negotiations continue
Anyway, Barnier indicates on Wednesday that the sovereignty concerns of the British are indeed being listened to. The Frenchman also emphasizes that the EU will also have to make compromises in order to reach an agreement.
The two points are welcomed in London as a sunny day and the British top negotiator David Frost has said in a statement that the negotiations will continue. Both parties are aiming for an agreement in November and will negotiate seven days a week to achieve it. “We are ready to negotiate 24/7,” said EU President Charles Michel.
Macron seems to be more lenient about fishing
Then we immediately come to the point where little has changed: the content of the negotiations. Because negotiations took place for only a few days, the major bottlenecks remain fisheries and agreements to prevent unfair competition.
Although there are no agreements on these hot topics, there does appear to be movement on the EU side on the former subject. French President Emmanuel Macron, one of the biggest troublemakers on the file so far, indicated last week that the situation for French fishermen will not be the same after January 1. He previously gave in public always insists that he wanted to maintain the current situation and will not victimize French fishermen for a Brexit deal. France has about twenty thousand fishermen, plus another ten thousand workers further down the production chain.
Macron’s change of attitude may have to do with the consequences for fisheries if no deal is reached. “Without new agreements, there will be a hard border in the middle of the North Sea”, Johan Nooitgedagt of the Dutch Fisheries Association explains to NU.nl on Friday. “When the British say that we are no longer allowed to fish in their waters, then together with the French and even the Spaniards we have only one stamp left to fish in,” said Nooitgedagt.
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