Fishermen sort and clean freshly caught fish in Sete, France.
Photographer: Balint Porneczi / Bloomberg
Photographer: Balint Porneczi / Bloomberg
German Agriculture Minister Julia Kloeckner warned of “painful cuts” to the European Union’s fishing industry over the trade deal the bloc has reached with the United Kingdom.
Fisheries was one of the most controversial issues in the Brexit talks that closed on Thursday, and the deal means that the EU’s share of catch in UK waters will fall by 25% over five and a half years. During that time, the mutual access rights remain unchanged.
Kloeckner, a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union, said she would have liked the cuts to be “significantly lower” while pledging support for the sector.
Read more: Why the UK and the EU are fighting over fish
“It is all the more important that the agreement provides for a transition period, with defined quota regimes and guaranteed access to fishing grounds,” Kloeckner said in an emailed statement.
“This gives at least some degree of planning security,” she added. “But it is also clear that we have to support the fishermen and lend a hand in this difficult situation. Looking to 2026, it will be important to find a long-term solution. “
French European Affairs Minister Clement Beaune said on Friday that the fisheries agreement is “a difficult effort, but acceptable and doable”, while insisting that the EU should not go beyond the agreed 25%.
“We have ways of applying pressure to make sure that – me hope, and we will fight for it – that access will remain, ”Beaune said on Europe1 radio. France will support the fishing industry with several tens of millions of euros for as long as it takes, he added.
– With help from James Regan