Into uncharted waters on Brexit and vaccines
Who would have believed that the titanic geopolitical clash called Brexit would come down to anchovies and mackerel?
Trivial it may sound, but with the clock ticking toward the year-end deadline and no deal between the United Kingdom and European Union in sight, the issue of mutual fishing rights is one of the major sticking points between the two sides.
The EU wants its fishermen to continue to haul in their catch within Britain’s rich territorial waters; British fishermen want none of that.
Ironically, an industry employing a paltry 180,000 Europeans, adding just 0.1% to the UK economy, is holding up a €1 trillion free-trade deal. But those European jobs are concentrated in a few locations on the Continent, and fishing is seen as a proxy of renewed British sovereignty — so an ocean separates the two sides’ positions.
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