The UK-Norway Fishing Dispute
Posted: Mon May 03, 2021 5:24 pm
Oh dear, that went well.... not. UK's first attempt at playing a small fish now operating in the global economy.
"Admittedly, a Norwegian version of events relating to the fishing in Norway, but many of us will recognise more than a ring of truth in this, as we have seen the illegal way our government have handled various EU negotiations, the way they’re screwing up trade talks with Australia and New Zealand, and now the fishing fiascos.
1. March 16th 2021 - Norway, the EU and the UK agree on North Sea access and quotas, in which Norway and Britain will continue with each other's pre-Brexit access and quotas arrangement.
2. March 25th 2021 - Norway and the UK sit down to formalise this agreement bilaterally, at which point the UK informs Norway that it didn't really mean what it said before and that actually it now wants to restrict access for Norwegian vessels in British waters.
3. April 2nd 2021 - Norway officially informs Britain that this means everyone must get back together then and revisit the March 16th agreement. The UK responds by saying that it has nothing further to add and will not speak to the EU again until 2022.
4. April 28th 2021 - Norway officially informs Britain that it cannot even begin a year-long access haggle at this stage of the fishing calendar and must simply work around this new stance by the UK side. In the meantime it was nice knowing you, but please stay out of our waters too until you can make up your minds if you want to negotiate in good faith or not.
5. April 29th 2021 - the UK government announces officially to its own people that it's having "ongoing" talks with "stubborn" but "friendly" Norwegians, who are nevertheless now the "baddies" and are depriving UK citizens of their fish'n'chips.
6. April 30th 2021 - the Norwegian government announces a compensation scheme for inconvenienced Norwegian trawler companies and has opened talks with the EU concerning possible legal action against the UK for reneging on an agreement within three weeks (a new record, even for Johnson's outfit). As a courtesy, it has invited Britain back in late summer to see if they have learnt anything about negotiating in the meantime."
"Admittedly, a Norwegian version of events relating to the fishing in Norway, but many of us will recognise more than a ring of truth in this, as we have seen the illegal way our government have handled various EU negotiations, the way they’re screwing up trade talks with Australia and New Zealand, and now the fishing fiascos.
1. March 16th 2021 - Norway, the EU and the UK agree on North Sea access and quotas, in which Norway and Britain will continue with each other's pre-Brexit access and quotas arrangement.
2. March 25th 2021 - Norway and the UK sit down to formalise this agreement bilaterally, at which point the UK informs Norway that it didn't really mean what it said before and that actually it now wants to restrict access for Norwegian vessels in British waters.
3. April 2nd 2021 - Norway officially informs Britain that this means everyone must get back together then and revisit the March 16th agreement. The UK responds by saying that it has nothing further to add and will not speak to the EU again until 2022.
4. April 28th 2021 - Norway officially informs Britain that it cannot even begin a year-long access haggle at this stage of the fishing calendar and must simply work around this new stance by the UK side. In the meantime it was nice knowing you, but please stay out of our waters too until you can make up your minds if you want to negotiate in good faith or not.
5. April 29th 2021 - the UK government announces officially to its own people that it's having "ongoing" talks with "stubborn" but "friendly" Norwegians, who are nevertheless now the "baddies" and are depriving UK citizens of their fish'n'chips.
6. April 30th 2021 - the Norwegian government announces a compensation scheme for inconvenienced Norwegian trawler companies and has opened talks with the EU concerning possible legal action against the UK for reneging on an agreement within three weeks (a new record, even for Johnson's outfit). As a courtesy, it has invited Britain back in late summer to see if they have learnt anything about negotiating in the meantime."