December 13th
The British Ministry of Defence said that once the Brexit transition period is over and no trade agreement is reached with the European Union, the four patrol ships of the British Navy on standby will start enforcement on January 1, 2021 to help protect Britain’s fishing waters.
According to Reuters and CNN, the British Ministry of Defense has carried out extensive plans and preparations to ensure that the British military is ready for various situations after the transition period is over.
The preparation, the British military said, includes 14,000 on-call personnel to ensure support for other government departments and law enforcement agencies during the winter, including the Brexit transition, the coronavirus response and potential severe weather events.
Whether there is a new trade agreement or not, the UK will complete the Brexit transition period by the end of the year. British Prime Minister Johnson and European Commission President von der Leyen issued a joint statement over the weekend that the dispute over fishing areas has been one of the three “key” issues that the EU and Brexit negotiators have failed to reach consensus.
Under current EU regulations, most of the waters between Britain and France are open to both countries and any other EU fishermen. But a no-deal Brexit may mean that the UK will claim that it will exercise full control over more fishing waters.
The British Navy will reportedly authorize the four ships to board and seize any ship within 200 miles (320 kilometers) of the British coast. According to the Sunday Times, British ministers are preparing legislation to authorize the navy to arrest foreign fishermen.
A French minister said on Thursday (10th) that if negotiations on a trade agreement break down, France will compensate its fishermen and take other measures to help them avoid maritime conflicts.
The United Kingdom will complete the Brexit transition period on December 31, 2020, after which the UK will no longer enjoy EU single market and customs union-related rights.
British Prime Minister Johnson and European Commission President von der Leyen said on the 11th that it is unlikely to reach a trade agreement now.
British navy is on standby! Britain and Europe could not reach an agreement and began to act.
According to comprehensive media reports, British Prime Minister Johnson and European Commission President von der Leyen said on Friday that the United Kingdom is likely to complete the Brexit process in three weeks without reaching a trade agreement.
The EU urges member states not to act on their own or consider reaching a bilateral agreement with the United Kingdom if the trade negotiations fail.
The UK left the EU in January this year, but remained in the EU Single Market and Customs Union until the end of the transition period on December 31. Both sides said they wanted to reach an agreement covering nearly $1 trillion in trade a year. But the negotiations are currently deadlocked, and Britain will lose zero tariffs and zero quota access to the huge single market of the European Union.
An EU official said that von der Leyen told the leaders of 27 EU member states attending the Brussels summit on Friday that the prospects for an agreement have deteriorated. “There is more likely than no agreement than agreement,” the official, who declined to be named.
Johnson told reporters: “It seems that we are very, very likely to be forced to adopt a solution that I think is very good for Britain. From January 1, we can act exactly as we want. This will obviously be different from what we are currently aiming to achieve.”
“If there are important suggestions, if their statements have changed significantly, then I must say that I haven’t seen it yet,” Johnson said. He is a representative of the Brexit faction.
Johnson then held a meeting with Cabinet Secretary of Staff Michael Gove and officials to assess Britain’s preparations for a no-deal Brexit, a British official said.
The report pointed out that the key to the current impasse is fishing rights and the EU’s demand that Britain bear the consequences in the event of future disagreements with EU rules.
Johnson and von der Leyen set the evening of the 13th as the deadline for negotiators to break the deadlock. Johnson must judge whether the existing agreement is acceptable or whether the benefits of a no-deal Brexit outweigh the economic cost.
If the UK leaves the European Union without a trade deal, it will hurt European economies, impact financial markets as a whole, cause border instability, and sow the seeds of chaos in fragile supply chains throughout Europe and beyond.
It is also reported that the British military said it was ready to protect British marine fisheries without a negotiated Brexit.
A spokesman for the British Ministry of Defence said that the department has completed many plans and preparations to ensure that a series of problems that may arise after the end of the Brexit transition period.
It is reported that these preparations cover 14,000 personnel on standby and four Royal Navy patrol boats. T
hese patrol boats will help the UK protect its marine fisheries from January 1 next year. They will have the right to intercept, inspect and confiscate all EU fishing vessels operating in the exclusive economic zone of the United Kingdom.
There are concerns that if Britain and Europe cannot reach a final agreement on a series of issues such as fishing rights, the fishing boats of the two sides may clash at sea.
Under the provisions of the transition period, fishing vessels from EU countries have the right to enter British waters to fish until the end of this year.
Brussels warned EU governments not to go on their own or consider reaching bilateral agreements with the United Kingdom if trade negotiations fail, according to the Financial Times website on December 11.
The European Union advocates a hardline line to force Britain to return to the negotiating table “aSAP” after January 1 next year.
According to a diplomatic document seen by the Financial Times, Brussels warned EU member states not to take any action to mitigate the consequences of the non-deal end of the Brexit transition period.
An EU official familiar with the discussion said that Brussels “is not fantasize” and knew that a no-deal Brexit would be very unpredictable.
“Everyone understands that there is no guarantee that the British will return to the negotiating table”.
Another senior EU diplomat said that hopes for an agreement are dashed.” The deal is certainly better, but it’s increasingly clear that the question isn’t whether we can stop Brexit ships from hitting the rocks, but how we can get it back to the surface.”
