Latest news with #EU-UKTradeandCooperationAgreement
STV News
18-05-2025
- Business
- STV News
Scottish fishermen fear new EU trade agreement could have a catch
It's 9am in Peterhead, and most business has already been done for the day. Boxes of fish have been unloaded and sold at the largest white fish market in Europe, and the boats don't hang around. They're refuelled, the hold is refilled with ice, and then they're I needed to walk at a brisk pace to speak to skippers before they headed back to sea. On Monday, a summit between the UK and the EU is taking place in London, and fishing rights are on the agenda. Both sides have abided by the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement since Brexit five years the agreement, 25% of the existing EU quota in UK waters has been transferred to the British fleet over a five-and-a-half-year period, which ends in June next the clock ticks down on the current arrangement, fishermen are taking stock of what a new deal could look Milne, a former skipper and chairman of the Scottish White Fish Producers Association, said: 'We've had a bit of stability created with this current arrangement. The guys have just gotten on with it because at least we know what's been happening.'We could negotiate annually going forward, but if it's a five-year deal the EU want, they're going to have to pay for it, they won't get it for free.'Reports suggest the UK could trade some of its fishing rights for a multibillion-pound defence deal with the EU and that a four-year deal could be Cabinet Office has tried to dispel the rumours, but they are already causing concern within the fishing fleet.A short drive away in Fraserburgh, William Reid is making last-minute tweaks on his new said: 'If we're linked in with a defence deal, that would be a disaster for the fishing fleet.'I campaigned for Brexit, but nothing has improved. We've not felt the benefit.'With the quotas, there are more restrictions, and we can't get any youth back into the sector, which is the biggest problem, as there's no confidence in the sector.'There was initially hope that Brexit would allow UK boats to increase their quotas, taking a greater share of fish than they did some fishermen fear they'll be able to catch less, and are concerned about the knock-on effect for Scotland's coastal have raised safety concerns, arguing there have already been incidents of foreign boats coming dangerously close to Scottish boats while they're trawling. As we enter the re-negotiation period, a Cabinet Office spokesperson added: 'We will protect the interests of our fishers and fulfil our international commitments to protect the marine environment.' The Scottish Government have not been invited to next week's Mairi Gougeon, cabinet secretary for rural affairs, said it was essential 'that we see an outcome that delivers benefits to our entire seafood sector'. There will be a lot up for discussion at the UK EU Summit on Monday, not least of all fishing. Get all the latest news from around the country Follow STV News Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country
Business Mayor
18-05-2025
- Business
- Business Mayor
EU certificates deal could boost UK exports by a quarter, study finds
A deal with Brussels allowing British goods to be exported to the EU without further tests or certificates would increase UK exports to the bloc by an average of a tenth, and by more than a quarter for some sectors, new research has found. A 'mutual recognition of conformity assessment' agreement would allow products certified in one jurisdiction to be accepted in the other without redundant testing or costly duplication. The UK government has pushed hard for such a measure to be included as part of its economic and security 'reset' with the EU — which will formally begin at a London summit on Monday. Its suggestion has so far been rebuffed by Brussels — which argues it breaches the UK's own 'red lines' that ruled out rejoining the EU single market or entering a customs union with the bloc — to the frustration of industry on both sides of the Channel. New modelling by Aston University in Birmingham estimated that a conformity assessment deal could deliver an average boost of 9.8 per cent to UK exports, with sectors such as industrial machinery and electronics seeing increases of up to 27.9 per cent. Jun Du, professor of economics at Aston who has modelled Brexit impacts since the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement, said the research showed that a 'mutual recognition of conformity assessment', or MRCA deal, would particularly help smaller firms access the EU without being 'drowned in red tape'. 'Our research shows that MRCA could ease that burden significantly, especially in sectors like food, textiles, and machinery, where compliance is complex. It's a low-politics, high-impact fix that would let small exporters get back to business,' she said. Read More How U.S. inflation rates compare to other large economies UK negotiators still hope that a conformity assessment agreement will form part of a much deeper realignment with the EU single market, including on industrial standards and other regulations in a bid to smooth trade ties with the bloc. However, analysts warned that achieving such a rapprochement would present formidable challenges given the politics of Brexit, adding that economic benefits from the trade components of the 'reset' negotiations are likely to be limited. Throughout the Brexit process the EU has consistently rejected UK requests for such a deal, with former EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier warning in a speech in 2020 that the UK could not become a 'regulatory and certification hub' for Europe. The Labour government has made a fresh push for an MRCA agreement after being elected last July, but the request was rejected by Brussels during recent negotiations ahead of Monday's summit, citing 'institutional and economic reasons', according to internal EU documents seen by the Financial Times. Nearly 20 industry bodies on both sides of the Channel, including the UK's CBI and the British Chambers of Commerce, and Europe's SMEUnited and the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise, have also lobbied for an EU-UK MRCA agreement, but so far without success. In a joint statement last month they called on both London and Brussels to agree to an MRCA deal, calling it 'a practical and achievable measure to reduce unnecessary barriers to trade'. William Bain, head trade policy at the BCC, said the Aston University analysis showed that a deal 'would bring much needed laboratory and testing capacity into the UK and boost our exporting capacity too.' Trade experts added that the EU's reluctance to sign such a deal with the UK — even though it has MRCA with seven countries, including Switzerland, the US, Japan, Australia and New Zealand — reflected ongoing determination to demonstrate that leaving the bloc carried costs. John Springford, of the Centre for European Reform think-tank, said the decision was a question of 'pure politics' rather than legal barriers, and that the potential benefits for both sides were significant. 'It's strange that the EU is willing to allow the US to judge the conformity of goods to EU standards, but not the UK, despite its continued alignment with EU rules in the goods sector,' he added. Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, will be counting on the EU reset to deliver a fillip to growth as she faces ongoing weakness in the public finances and the prospect of a harsh outlook from the government's Office for Budget Responsibility at this autumn's Budget.
Business Times
14-05-2025
- Business
- Business Times
Brussels and London look to Brexit ‘reset'
EU-UK ties are currently at their warmest since before the 2016 Brexit referendum. While this partly reflects the change of UK government last July, a key external factor is the tumult of the Trump administration which has brought London and Brussels closer together. So much so that, ahead of the big UK-EU summit on Monday (May 19), a leaked agenda indicates that the two sides may frame their renewed partnership as a counter to the chaos of the Trump team. The leak points to the importance of 'free and open trade', rather than tariffs, and highlights the 'vital' nature of multilateralism, and 'international development'. While final details are reportedly still being hammered out, including fishing quotas and a possible youth mobility deal, it looks likely that the two sides will announce a deeper strategic partnership. This builds from the 2020 EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) agreed between then-UK prime minister Boris Johnson and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen. One of the biggest missing gaps in the TCA is a defence and security agreement, an omission that only became clearer in 2022 when Russia invaded Ukraine. So the new deal is likely to be a centrepiece of the announcements on Monday which will include a 'geopolitical preamble' that commits the two sides to supporting Ukraine and wider issues, including combating climate change, which is increasingly framed in Europe in terms of economic security. Beyond these strategic imperatives, there will also be encouragement of closer defence industry cooperation. This could even see UK companies benefit from the European Union's new 150 billion euros (S$218.5 billion) defence loan initiative called Security Action For Europe. Yet, while the security and defence deal is relatively uncontroversial in UK politics, deeper economic ties with the EU will trigger more debate. This follows recent comments by UK Finance Minister Rachel Reeves, who asserted that improving trading links with the EU is 'arguably more important' than securing a big 'economic deal' with the US. BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up The UK public also appears to support this view too. More than half (58 per cent) of voters want closer trade with the EU, compared to just one in five (20 per cent) who prefer deepening ties with the US, according to a recent BMG Research poll. This sentiment is also reinforced by Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey who argued recently that 'having a more open economy to trade with the EU... would be beneficial. It is important we do everything we can to ensure that whatever decisions are taken on the Brexit front do not damage the long-term trade position. So I hope that we can use this to start to rebuild that relationship'. The reason this issue is so pressing is the appetite from the authorities in both powers to enhance growth. The TCA is a hard Brexit deal that saw the UK's economic ties with the EU significantly reduced. Indeed, the UK-EU agreement may be the first trade negotiation in history where barriers went up, rather than down, compared to the status quo. It is only therefore a starting solution to future UK-EU economic collaboration. On the economic front, what is becoming clearer five years on from the signing of TCA is that it has created structural impediments to trade that aren't improving significantly. This has been highlighted by national business groups like the British Chambers of Commerce too. The EU got much of what it wanted from TCA, including a zero tariff, zero quota deal for goods, in which it runs a surplus with the UK. Meanwhile, Brussels gave away little on services, which is a UK strength. The longer the agreement remains unchanged, the more pressing it is for London to reform it. Part of the challenge with the 2020 TCA is that it was struck in just eight months. So what has been called a bare-bones agreement was the almost inevitable result. However, as significant as the Brexit reset on Monday may prove to be, it may well only be the first of multiple renegotiations in the decade or two to come. That is, unless a future UK government makes an, as yet, unexpected attempt to rejoin the EU. To be sure, there is growing support in some parts of the population for rejoining the Brussels-based club. This includes the Scottish National Party and many wider politicians on the left and political centre ground. However, with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer having ruled out EU membership, and the Conservatives now having very few pro-Brussels legislators among them, it is unlikely that the UK will go back into the club during this political generation, and possibly never. Rather than seeing the upcoming summit as a one-off process, it is therefore likely the period beyond may see further UK-EU bilateral deals to re-fashion the partnership, potentially in a similar scenario to recent Swiss-EU relations. The Swiss example is interesting in its parallels with the UK, given that in 1992, Switzerland voted by 50.3 to 49.7 per cent against joining the European Economic Area, which is an extension of the EU's single market to member states of the European Free Trade Association. In the period since, Switzerland has negotiated a series of deals with the Brussels-based club. If the UK experience with the EU proves similar, it will be one of the great ironies of the 2016 referendum. That is, despite the plebiscite that saw around 52 per cent of the population apparently voting for cutting ties with the Brussels-based club, London has had to devote huge attention to Europe since then. So the UK's future relationship with the EU is still far from being completely re-defined for the Brexit era, despite massive efforts to do so. Moreover, views on the relationship the nation wishes to have with the club could well change significantly, in a more or less integrationist direction, as political and public opinion evolves into the 2030s. The writer is an associate at LSE IDEAS at the London School of Economics
The Independent
02-05-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Split decision in EU-UK fishing rights dispute as post-Brexit debate rumbles on
An arbitration panel has delivered a split decision in a post-Brexit fishing rights dispute between the UK and the European Union, according to the Permanent Court of Arbitration. The ruling adds another layer of complexity to the UK's attempts to recalibrate its relationship with the bloc. At the heart of the disagreement was a British ban on sandeel fishing in its North Sea waters, a measure the EU argued violated the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement. A three-person tribunal found the ban disproportionate in English waters, directing the UK to take the necessary steps to comply with their decision. However, the panel sided with the UK regarding the ban's application in Scottish waters, rejecting the EU's challenge. The EU also claimed the ban was discriminatory and not rooted in scientific evidence, arguments the tribunal dismissed. The UK government maintains the ruling fully validates its closure of Scottish waters to sandeel fishing and doesn't necessitate reversing the closure in English waters. "We will undertake a process in good faith to bring the UK into compliance on the specific issues raised by the tribunal," a British government spokesperson said. The European Commission said it was still analysing the ruling. In financial terms, the case is trifling. Britain puts the revenue loss for non-UK vessels at 45 million pounds ($60 million) in a worst-case scenario. Politically, it could prove awkward. Britain and the EU are preparing a summit on May 19 that could lead to closer defence cooperation and pave the way for agreements to ease agricultural and food trade. The EU wants fishing rights in UK waters to be part of the discussions. Britain argues that the fishing ban is necessary, given the role sandeels play in the food chain of predators - larger fish, marine mammals, and seabirds such as puffins. British boats do not fish for the sandeels, but the small eel-like fish are caught by Danish fleets and used as animal feed and as a source of oil.
Reuters
02-05-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
Arbitrators give mixed ruling in EU-UK fishing rights dispute
BRUSSELS, May 2 (Reuters) - Arbitrators asked to settle a dispute between Britain and the European Union over post-Brexit fishing rights have given a mixed ruling, the Permanent Court of Arbitration said on Friday. The case, which would complicate Britain's planned "reset" of relations with the bloc, concerned whether a British ban on fishing sandeels in its North Sea waters breaches the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement. The three-person panel dismissed a number of EU complaints, but did find that Britain's sandeel fishing ban in English waters was not "proportionate" and that Britain needed to take the necessary measures to comply with its ruling.
