The United Kingdom and the EU agreed with a post-Brexit historical reset after a “late breakthrough” during night talks before a summit in London on Monday, officials said on both sides.
Great Britain has agreed to open its fishing waters for 12 more years to the EU boats – a decision which will be condemned by the conservatives of the opposition – according to officials of Brussels. The United Kingdom had already offered five years.
In return, British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has obtained a veterinary agreement which will remove a lot of administrative formalities for exports from agriculture and British fisheries to its largest market, in a highly sought -after economic price of “reset” talks.
Three EU diplomats confirmed that Brussels had lowered the liaison of the duration of the agricultural agreement to that of the fish, while British officials confirmed that an agreement on the two questions had been concluded.
The two parties were locked in intense haggling of the night on the key details of their altered relationship, including on peaches and food trade, as well as the formulation of a young mobility plan project.
Starmer argued that the two parties should continue to talk about the proposed youth program – including the possibility that Great Britain returns to the Erasmus student exchange program – rather than making concrete commitments at the London summit.
EU diplomats said that the final text said that the two parties “work” on an agreement to improve the mobility of young people, announcing months of negotiations. They said it was a disappointing result but recognized that Starmer was under enormous internal pressure on migration.
“There was a late breakthrough last night,” said a British official. The ambassadors of the 27 Member States met early on Monday to sign the package, even if the leaders of the EU institutions went to London to admit it officially.
The eleventh hour talks were before a summit at the London Lancaster House on Monday morning, when the two parties sign a security and defense partnership, the centerpiece of the new relationship.
The EU has offered a new open agreement in Great Britain to reduce obstacles to trade in agrifood products, but only in exchange for a reversal in the 2030s of a current agreement allowing EU fishermen to operate in British waters.
Fishing groups in the United Kingdom fear that the risks of becoming permanent and conservative opposition politicians and the Eurosceptic press already claim that the sector is about to be exhausted.
Downing Street refused to comment on the offer. The summit is expected to start on Monday at 10 a.m. time in the United Kingdom.
Starmer is expected to sign the defense pact and a press release promising more in -depth economic cooperation at a two -hour meeting with the president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and the president of the European Council António Costa.
The UE-UK summit, the first since Brexit entered into force in 2020, should highlight a spirit of reconciliation, but the talks tense in Brussels on Sunday were a reminder that the relationship is now very transactional.
The details of the UE-UK agreement are very politically sensitive. Conservative chief Kemi Badenoch warned that Starmer is about to “return” British interests.
British officials have recognized that the EU would not accept an open agreement to eliminate post -Brexit obstacles to food and animal trade – one of the largest “demand” in the United Kingdom – unless Brussels is satisfied with a fish agreement.
“We want to give confidence in business,” said a British official, admitting that a veterinary agreement limited in time – known as Sanitary and Phytosanitary – would leave farmers and supermarkets too much uncertainty.
Great Britain has also admitted that the elimination of food trade in food trade will force the United Kingdom to “dynamically align with the rules made in Brussels – staying step with EU regulations as they change – and also performs EU payments to finance work on food and animal standards. The conservatives claim that it is a “betrayal” of Brexit.
The EU also demanded an ambitious Young mobility diagram – including better access for students to British universities – in a press release to be published alongside the Defense Pact.
THE Ue A warned Starmer, this would not allow British tour musicians to travel more easily through national borders in Europe or for British travelers to use passport e-gates unless it is no longer daring on the mobility of young people, according to officials informed of talks.
Starmer said that a young mobility program would occur, but wanted to keep the language in the vague press release, allowing detailed discussions in controversial areas such as figures and student fees for new negotiations later this year.
The details of the final text should be published at noon on Monday, but Starmer and its EU interlocutors will be in the pain in pain agree, rather than tensions exposed by the painful last minute talks.
