Table of Contents
The European Union will demand access to British fishing watersIn exchange for closer relations with Britain, The Telegraph understands.
Sir Keir Starmer is attempting to reset European relations and last week hosted a summit of European Political Community (EPC) leaders at Blenheim Palace.
The Prime Minister hoped to use the summit as a springboard to forge closer ties on trade, security and foreign policy with Brussels, as well as to work on a agreement on the return of migrants.
However, the EU is said to be preparing a list of “offensive interests” that it will use in any future talks with the UK government.
Government officials believe access to British fishing waters will be one of the main trade-offs in response to Sir Keir’s requests.
“We don’t know what they want”
The Government has also said that it will try to improve the Boris Johnson’s government agrees a trade deal between the UK and the EU in 2020, and Charles Michel, President of the European Council, has offered Sir Keir a symbolic EU-UK summit in Brussels to kick off those negotiations.
The bloc’s 27 prime ministers and presidents are believed to be keen to hear from Sir Keir about his plans to review relations.
“We don’t know yet what they want,” a European diplomatic source told The Telegraph at the EPC summit.
An EU official added: “First they have to decide exactly what they want and then come to us and we will talk about it.”
The priority on the EU agenda, especially for France, will be the renewal of the UK-EU fisheries agreement, which expires at the end of June 2026.
Emmanuel Macron has included the issue of fishing as a priority, along with Migration and defenseto hold talks with the United Kingdom.
The EU also wants an agreement on greater access to Britain for young Europeans.
Brussels’ current “youth mobility” proposal, unveiled in April, places no limits on 18- to 30-year-olds who can come to Britain to work or study for four years, and they have the right to bring their families along.
Starmer could rethink university fee rules
The bloc also wants rules to prevent British universities from charging international fees to EU students.
At the time, Labour rejected the plan but is likely to return to the negotiating table if Sir Keir is to secure deals to cut red tape in trade with the bloc.
It is likely to want to negotiate better terms on animal health standards, mutual recognition of qualifications and a regulatory agreement on chemicals.
An agreement with Spain on the post-Brexit The future of Gibraltar It will also become an early priority in talks with Europe.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has said that “clarifying this issue” would help move things forward between London and Madrid.
But this has prompted warnings that Sir Keir will be exploited in his efforts to reset Britain’s relations with the bloc.
Veteran Brexit negotiators have said the prime minister will suffer if he tries to please the EU by giving ground early on a fisheries deal.
They told The Telegraph it would be “madness” to believe that reaching an early fisheries deal would convince Brussels to be lenient towards Labour in future talks to reopen parts of Johnson’s trade deal.
The single market cannot be “cherry-picked”
Despite the positive response from Europeans to the Prime Minister’s desire to reset relations, they said they would not allow their Single Market to be “cherry-picked”.
Michel, who will be replaced as European Council president at the end of this year, said it was “legitimate” for Brussels to defend its interests, adding: “In the end, what is important is common sense and political courage so that we can make the right decisions, the right choices for the benefit of our citizens.”
Meanwhile, Macron, referring to Johnson’s arrangements, told reporters at the EPC: “This obviously has to respect what was decided at the time and it should not be some kind of arbitrary selection.”
The French president will position himself as the defender of EU interests in any talks with the UK, despite his public determination to improve relations since Sir Keir’s election victory.
Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor, who is expected to take a softer stance, said: “It is too early now to go into details, but there is a willingness to resolve all the issues that need to be resolved in order to have good relations.”