Brexit trade deal hits a snag on fishing as France threatens veto

Despite the emphasis, however, fishing is a relatively small segment of the U.K. economy, and the dispute could have unintended negative consequences for the British Isles.

With a gross domestic product of more than 2.1 trillion British pounds, the United Kingdom only netted 1 billion pounds from the fishing industry, or 0.1% of the nation’s GDP.

“It’s not about economics,” National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations chief Barrie Deas said. “It’s about politics and the symbolism.”

Britain once had a fishing fleet of roughly 22,000 fishermen in 1975, two years after the U.K. joined the EU. As of 2018, overfishing has seen that figure dwindle to just 12,000, fueling national resentment against the economic bloc.

Some EU officials have threatened to cut off fish exports from the U.K. if it insists on closing off its waters from European trawlers. “If they don’t allow our boats in, they can eat all the fish they catch themselves,” said one diplomat. More than three-quarters of all fish netted by British fishermen is exported to countries in Europe. A ban on British fish could be disastrous for an already hobbled industry, leaving fish “rotting on the British quays.”

France has argued that it has a vital national interest in keeping fishing waters open post-Brexit.

“We’re 17 [nautical] miles from Dover, so we’re really close. So, it’s really imperative for us to have access to the waters,” local fishing official Olivier Lepretre said. A deal that fails to protect 13,500 French fishermen’s right to access U.K. waters “would mean certain death” for the fishing industry in northern France.

“How do we explain to fishermen that they can’t go into British waters, but then they will import fish to Boulogne?” Lepretre added. “That’s very complicated — believe me.”

Water rights and other issues have culminated into what U.K. Business Secretary Alok Sharma called “a difficult phase” in the negotiations, but he confirmed that the U.K. was still “committed to reaching an agreement.”

“But, of course, time is short, and we are in a difficult phase. There’s no denying that,” Sharma told the BBC. “There are a number of tricky issues that still have to be resolved.”

“We have said all along, right from the start of these negotiations … that we want the EU to recognize that the U.K. is a sovereign and independent nation.”

The U.K. left the EU earlier this year but remains part of the economic bloc’s trade agreements until Jan. 1. Barring a deal by the end of the month, Britain will undergo a volatile “no-deal” exit, imposing overnight tariffs and other barriers between the U.K. and the EU.

In October, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that the U.K. is making preparations for a no-deal situation.

“After 45 years of membership, they are not willing, unless there’s some fundamental change of approach, to offer this country the same terms as Canada,” Johnson said at the time. “And so, with high hearts and with complete confidence, we will prepare to embrace the alternative. And we will prosper mightily as an independent, free-trading country.”

Even if U.K. and EU negotiators reach an agreement before the end of the month, France has threatened that it could veto an agreement if the conditions are not agreeable.

“If there were a deal that isn’t good, which in our evaluation doesn’t correspond to those interests, we will oppose it,” French European Affairs Minister Clement Beaune said. “Yes, each country has a veto, so it’s possible. France, like all its partners, has the means of a veto. We must make our own evaluation, of course, of this deal. That’s normal. We owe that to the French people. We owe it to our fishermen and to other economic sectors.”

Negotiations continue in London, with late-night sessions prompting pizza deliveries as negotiations enter a “key” 48-hour period.