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The Fisheries and other "Stumbling Blocks" in EU Negotiations.

The EU, in their European Council Guidelines of 23 March 2018(i) for negotiating an FTA between the EU and UK state that.

"In the overall context of the FTA, existing reciprocal access to fishing waters and resources should be maintained;”

The EU are laying claim to UK territory and resources.

The EU are determined "to protect [EU] fishing enterprises and coastal communities" by demanding access to British waters.

The EU are also insisting that the EU should be involved in the regulation of fishing stocks in UK waters.

The message does not seem to have percolated through to EU member states: the UK has left the EU and is sovereign over its own territory and this includes the 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone.

The stumbling blocks in the negotiations, according to Barnier, are:

  •  "Fisheries, where we have made no progress whatsoever on the issues that matter.    
  • Governance, where we are still far from agreeing on the essential issue of dispute settlement.    
  • Law enforcement, where we still struggle to agree on the necessary guarantees to protect citizens' fundamental rights and personal data. 
  • Mobility and social security coordination, where our positions also remain far apart."

In each of these the issue that is obstructing progress is that the EU is insisting that EU institutions govern fishery policy, dispute settlement, the definition of "Rights" and coordination of social security.  This is obviously absurd for a relationship between an independent UK and the EU State.  The EU did not demand a similar capitulation of national sovereignty when agreeing the Canada FTA.

The BBC, as usual, is taking the EU's side in these negotiations, for instance Katya Adler says "Brussels diplomats say they are willing to make concessions, including on key issues like state aid and fishing but that the UK must do the same.." but obviously the fisheries are UK property and there is no need for "concessions".

When will the Government end the role of the BBC as a fifth column for a neighbouring State? 

It looks as if the UK will need to exit the EU on WTO terms and then negotiate an FTA from a position of strength.  This was obvious back in June 2016, the EU were absolutely clear that they would attempt to punish the UK for Brexit to discourage other countries from leaving.  However, the balance of payments between the UK and EU is so dire that the UK will benefit immensely from leaving on WTO terms.  This will give us the time to fix the Balance of Payments problem.


ONS Current Account with EU (L877)

This deficit means that the UK (overall economy) is accumulating debt at £20bn a year to pay for it.  Just imagine how much more prosperous we would be without this unnecessary £110bn pa weighing us down.  This is not a trivial figure and within a decade or so it could undermine our finances.

The Balance of Payments problem was created by EU Membership, it can be seen that the Current Account Balance with non-EU countries is fine.

ONS Current Account Non-EU (L86U)

 

Much of the problem with the EU lies in EU ownership of UK production and property where parts, production, profits, rents, dividends etc. could move freely to and from the EU.

7/9/2020


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