Fishing could sink EU-UK trade talks
Angling is the most challenging remaining issue in trade talks between Britain and Europe and has the potential to scupper the talks, Ireland's Foreign Minister Simon Coveney warned on Monday.
With just over four weeks left until the UK finally leaves the EU's orbit on Dec. 31, each part is challenging concessions from the different on fishing, state aid and dispute resolution.
"If there isn't an agreement upon this (fishing), the whole lot could fall in the trunk of it and that's the worry," Coveney told Ireland's Newstalk Radio. Coveney said he believed the Uk federal government understood that there will be no deal without agreement on state aid and a dispute resolution mechanism, but was trying to split up angling from the other issues.
"Ironically, actually, fish is a far more difficult issue to get agreement on ... because it is in a few ways a far more real issue. You understand: 'How many seafoods can we catch nowadays?'" he stated."If the UK wants a deal here, there's a package to be done. If the UK really wants to use seafood as an excuse not to have a deal, then that can happen too," he said.
