Thread by @tconnellyRTE

EU officials have downplayed reports of a breakthrough on fisheries in the Brexit negotiations.

"We have not yet found a solution on fisheries," said Dan Ferrie, a spokesman for Michel Barnier, the EU's chief negotiator.

2/ "We are working for a stable, sustainable and long term agreement on fisheries, enabling the UK to further develop its fishing activities while ensuring the sustainable use of resources and protecting the fishing opportunities of European fishermen and women."

3/ This week Bloomberg reported that UK and EU were close to an agreement on fisheries. The report said a compromise was emerging whereby the quotas would be set according to "zonal attachment", and decisions on what quotas EU fleets cd catch wd be deferred until a later date.

4/ Ferrie said that Mr Barnier had repeatedly said the principle of "zonal attachment", a methodology of defining the rightful ownership of fish stocks post-Brexit, and thought to favour UK fishing fleets, could not be the basis for any solution.

5/ "This solution has not changed. Our position has remained the same on this," Mr Ferrie told a European Commission news briefing this morning.

6/ Another EU source close to the fisheries negotiations discounted the Bloomberg report. "It doesn't make sense. There's no way that Barnier would agree to that, and we would lose all leverage over future quota share. There's no way he could sell that to member states."

7/ I understand that under the recent intensification of negotiations, there has been some joint drafting of legal text on the fisheries issue. These have focused on the issues of sustainability and so-called "technical measures", such as net sizes etc.

8/ "There has been basically no progress on fish so far. What they are doing is working on draft legal text on everything else. That's what they've spent the last week doing, but there's no substantial movement on access or share," said the source

9/ The EU entered the negotiations seeking to largely maintain European access to UK waters, and to continue the current share out of fish quotas. The UK by contrast has wanted to limit EU access/stock shares so it can substantially gain a greater share of fishing opportunities

10/ European fleets currently catch some €650 million worth of fish in UK waters. It's understood Michel Barnier has suggested a possible hand over of quota to the UK that would be worth up to €100 million. Officials concede the UK is unlikely to accept this.

11/ It's thought the position of French President Emmanuel Macron will be critical in the fisheries talks.
He has vowed not to "sacrifice" French fishermen for the sake of a Brexit free trade agreement.

12/ However, his Europe Minister Clement Beaune told the BBC's Andrew Marr on Sunday he believed an agreement on fisheries and the other stumbling blocks was possible. The UK's chief negotiator is currently in Brussels, + his team has been in the city since last Thursday night.

13/ The negotiations are ongoing on all issues, with officials said to be working from 8am till 10pm CET. An unofficial deadline of late next week remains the mostly likely target for officials on both sides to break the deadlock.

ENDS