MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Galicia commissions new report on Brexit and a possible fishing agreement with UK

The Minister of Fisheries of Galicia, Rosa Quintana informed members of the Galician Fisheries Council at the plenary held in Santiago de Compostela.

The Government of Galicia will commission the University Institute of European Studies “Salvador de Madariaga”, from the University of A Coruña, a new report on the current status of the Brexit agreement and the possibilities to reach a fishing agreement with the United Kingdom.

This was announced by the Minister of Fisheries of Galicia, Rosa Quintana, to the members of the Galician Fisheries Council plenary held in Santiago de Compostela.

Quintana explained that in order to start the Brexit study, it is necessary to wait for clarification of the process situation in the United Kingdom. This report will be added to another one made by the aforementioned university institute in 2016, commissioned by the Xunat de Galicia, on the consequences of the departure of the United Kingdom from the EU for Galician fishing. These actions are part of the road map drawn by Galicia to minimize the impact of Brexit on Galician fishing interests.

In this line, the Fisheries Minister explained to the fisheries sector, through entities such as the European Fisheries Alliance (EUFA), and the Galician and Spanish administrations, that they are working so that the European Commission does not relegate the fishing matter to last positions in the conversations between the EU and the United Kingdom.

Quintana highlighted that this work resulted in the inclusion of fishing among the “red lines” of the negotiation. And she pointed out that, in fact, the Exit Treaty of the United Kingdom establishes an exclusive section for fishing, in which the European Commission picks up the need to find “a specific procedure for setting and assigning fishing opportunities” during the period of Transition.

The head of the Ministry of Fisheries stressed that Galicia defends that “UK's departure from the EU is as orderly as possible and that the UK accepts the agreement that has already been defined with the EU representative commissioner”. She also recalled that Galicia defends that the status quo be maintained in fisheries and in access to waters and markets (FIS).