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British flag: The transition period will end in three months, and without an agreement there is a risk of a hard break between the EU and Great Britain
Photo: Alberto Pezzali / dpa
The transition phase after Brexit will end in three months.
By then, the UK and the EU want to have agreed on a joint trade pact.
So far, however, there has been little progress in the negotiations.
The British could now accommodate the EU on a particularly controversial point.
In an internal negotiating paper, from which the Guardian quoted on Wednesday, the British should propose a three-year transition phase for the fishery.
This would give EU fishermen more time to convert.
Between 2021 and 2024, the proposal suggests that catch quotas could be slowly reduced.
The issue of fisheries is one of the major stumbling blocks in the EU's negotiations with the UK.
Great Britain has rich fishing grounds and wants to limit access for EU fishermen in the future.
Catch quotas are to be renegotiated from year to year so that the domestic fleet can better benefit.
Brussels entered the negotiations with the demand that everything stay the same.
The negotiating teams of the EU and Great Britain are already discussing a possible trade pact this week in the ninth and, for the time being, last planned round.
Great Britain left the EU at the end of January, but will still be part of the EU internal market and customs union until the end of the year.
To prevent a hard break with tariffs and trade barriers, the EU and Great Britain are negotiating a follow-up agreement.
The transition phase ends in three months.
If an agreement is reached, it would have to be ratified by the European Parliament, the EU states and the British Parliament.
Trouble with Johnson's Single Market Act
Recently, however, the fronts hardened.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Single Market Act could become another crucial hurdle in the negotiations.
The EU accuses Great Britain of violating essential parts of the 2019 withdrawal agreement with this legislative proposal.
Because it would amount to the erosion of special rules for Northern Ireland, which are supposed to prevent a hard border with the EU member Ireland.
The EU called for the plans to be withdrawn by the end of September.
A few days ago, however, the law passed the House of Commons.
Next, the law must be submitted to the House of Lords.
The MPs could then stop the controversial internal market law.
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