UK willing to compromise on fisheries and trade if EU backs off hardline stance

The United Kingdom is expected to indicate its willingness to compromise on fisheries and trade rules if the European Union agrees to back off from its “maximalist” demands related to regulatory alignment and fishing access, the Times (United Kingdom)  newspaper reported on Tuesday.

“There is only one way to get things moving and that is for the UK side to move and then, as Frost (Britain’s chief negotiator) knows full well, the EU will move too,” an EU source was quoted as saying by the newspaper.

Britain told the EU on Wednesday it needed to break a fundamental impasse to clinch a Brexit trade deal by the end of the year and said an agreement on fisheries might not be ready by July.

A round of talks between the two sides will start on Tuesday with focus on fisheries and “a level playing field for open and fair competition”, as well as the legal structuring and enforcement of the governance of new agreements, the report added.

Times / Reuters