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Talks between the EU and UK on a “reset” of their relations have been delayed until next year after the bloc’s member states insisted they agree their own priorities before listening to offers and demands from the London government.
Three EU diplomats told the Financial Times that the negotiating mandate would not be decided before a meeting of European ministers on December 17, despite a flurry of meetings between British ministers and Brussels officials.
UK trade minister Douglas Alexander told a conference in Dublin on Thursday that talks would begin in “the early part of 2025” with trade policy forming “a central part of that”.
But the diplomats said negotiations would begin with the issue of continued access to British fishing waters, which expires in 2026 as part of the Brexit deal.
“We have to start with fish and energy. Fishing communities are economically small but politically big,” said one. North Sea states such as France, Belgium and Denmark want a guarantee they can keep catching as much fish as they do currently in the UK’s territorial waters before agreeing closer ties.
Another top priority is energy. Arrangements to allow smooth flows of electricity and gas between the UK and continent must also be reviewed in 2026.
Electricity trading arrangements will not be extended without a deal on fishing rights under a “tripwire” clause that links the two issues in the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement.
In a sign of the potential for fish to be a contentious issue, the EU on Friday asked for arbitration over the UK’s decision to ban the catching of sand eels on the Dogger Bank in the North Sea.
London says this is a conservation measure to protect puffins, which feed on them. But Denmark complained about its fishing boats being shut out.
A tribunal will rule on the compatibility of the measure with the TCA.
The 27 EU members also want to discuss a youth mobility deal already rejected by London. Maroš Šefčovič, the EU Brexit commissioner, has rebranded it a “youth opportunity” scheme after UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer rejected any return to freedom of movement.
The deal, being revised by member states, would allow under-30s in the EU and UK to work and study in each other’s countries for three years. But the Labour government, which has promised to cut immigration, is wary.
EU officials are holding a series of seminars on UK relations over the next five weeks after which the bloc will draw up its negotiating mandate.
Until then, the European Commission has been told not to engage in serious talks, because of concerns its president, Ursula von der Leyen, is too keen for deals with London. “The council [of member states] will be setting the agenda,” said one diplomat.
Nick Thomas-Symonds, the UK Cabinet Office minister in charge of EU relations, met Šefčovič and senior European parliamentarians in Strasbourg this week. He said he and Šefčovič “discussed our joint agenda and strengthening co-operation in areas of mutual interest, such as the economy, energy, security and resilience”.
London has said there will be no return to the single market or customs union, limiting the potential upsides of a deal for the EU.
UK officials said they expected that internal Whitehall scoping exercises on the British negotiating positions would also continue “until Christmas”.
Sandro Gozi, an MEP for France, who met Thomas-Symonds as co-chair of the EU-UK parliamentary partnership assembly, said the UK needed to outline its ideas.
“The ball is in their court. We are in listening mode,” he said. Gozi is part of a delegation of MEPs visiting London next week.
Šefčovič said he wanted to “take forward our agenda of strengthened co-operation while ensuring that our existing agreements run like clockwork”.