Ireland’s Foreign Minister Simon Coveney told British leaders that talks on a post-Brexit trade deal were not in a good place as fears mount that a deal cannot be done in the handful of days left to seal agreement.
In particular, Mr Coveney, who said "fish don't have passports", pointed on Monday to the outsize importance of a fisheries compromise in the quest for a breakthrough.
“It’s a lot more emotive, and a lot more political, quite frankly,” he said. “What the British government has promised to their fishing industry, versus Michel Barnier’s negotiating mandate from the EU is a very, very wide gap.
"The negotiations are not in a good place when it comes to fishing."
The UK’s chief Brexit negotiator David Frost also said the talks may not succeed, raising concerns about the likelihood of a no-deal impasse.
Mr Frost was commenting as he arrived in Brussels ahead of a crucial week for UK-EU talks. The timetable for both sides to reach a deal is getting tight, with the EU withdrawal transition period ending on December 31, but a ratification process must also be taken into account.
The British negotiator said his team was working to get a deal, but only “one that is compatible with our sovereignty” and “takes back control of our laws, our trade, and our waters".
Any suggestion of a softer attitude towards Brexit after the departure of Boris Johnson’s chief adviser and architect of Brexit, Dominic Cummings, was scotched by the British side.
Senior British backbenchers, who support Brexit, told The National on Monday that they have complete confidence the UK will not give way on questions affecting Britain's sovereignty – be that fishing or the courts of justice – before going on to say that if the EU is unable to accept that there will be no agreement.
Mr Coveney also said there would be no deal if Mr Johnson pushed ahead with his controversial Internal Market Bill, which would give ministers the power to break international law by “dis-applying” agreed rules set out in the Withdrawal Agreement in relation to trade between Northern Ireland and Britain.
“There is no way the EU will agree to ratify a new agreement if the British government is breaking the existing agreement that is not even 12 months old, and breaking international law by doing that,” Mr Coveney said.
Even with a deal there will be a substantial increase in the burdens of doing business with Europe even if that pales in significance to the fallout from a collapse in the talks.
"No-deal would be more disruptive for agriculture or the automotive industry – but the key point is people need to prepare for life in the UK to change from January 1, 2021," Jill Rutter, senior research fellow at UK in a Changing Europe, told The National.
“The deal Boris John seems to want is still incredibly disruptive. There will be more paperwork for everyone, not just businesses. Travel will be disrupted, EU roaming charges will be back, a lot of the things we have taken for granted over the years will be gone. We can talk about ‘level playing fields’ but these are the things people will actually see change almost immediately,” she said.
The talks are stalled on a number of sticking points, mainly fishing rights in British waters and the "level playing field" conditions for businesses. Compromise will be the word floating around Brussels this week but both sides appear to be digging in and time is not on their side.
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Review: Tomb Raider
Dir: Roar Uthaug
Starring: Alicia Vikander, Dominic West, Daniel Wu, Walter Goggins
two stars
World Cup warm-up fixtures
Friday, May 24:
- Pakistan v Afghanistan (Bristol)
- Sri Lanka v South Africa (Cardiff)
Saturday, May 25
- England v Australia (Southampton)
- India v New Zealand (The Oval, London)
Sunday, May 26
- South Africa v West Indies (Bristol)
- Pakistan v Bangladesh (Cardiff)
Monday, May 27
- Australia v Sri Lanka (Southampton)
- England v Afghanistan (The Oval, London)
Tuesday, May 28
- West Indies v New Zealand (Bristol)
- Bangladesh v India (Cardiff)
UAE cricketers abroad
Sid Jhurani is not the first cricketer from the UAE to go to the UK to try his luck.
Rameez Shahzad Played alongside Ben Stokes and Liam Plunkett in Durham while he was studying there. He also played club cricket as an overseas professional, but his time in the UK stunted his UAE career. The batsman went a decade without playing for the national team.
Yodhin Punja The seam bowler was named in the UAE’s extended World Cup squad in 2015 despite being just 15 at the time. He made his senior UAE debut aged 16, and subsequently took up a scholarship at Claremont High School in the south of England.
The%20specs
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Terror attacks in Paris, November 13, 2015
- At 9.16pm, three suicide attackers killed one person outside the Atade de France during a foootball match between France and Germany
- At 9.25pm, three attackers opened fire on restaurants and cafes over 20 minutes, killing 39 people
- Shortly after 9.40pm, three other attackers launched a three-hour raid on the Bataclan, in which 1,500 people had gathered to watch a rock concert. In total, 90 people were killed
- Salah Abdeslam, the only survivor of the terrorists, did not directly participate in the attacks, thought to be due to a technical glitch in his suicide vest
- He fled to Belgium and was involved in attacks on Brussels in March 2016. He is serving a life sentence in France
Match info:
Burnley 0
Manchester United 2
Lukaku (22', 44')
Red card: Marcus Rashford (Man United)
Man of the match: Romelu Lukaku (Manchester United)
Abu%20Dhabi%E2%80%99s%20Racecard
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Jetour T1 specs
Engine: 2-litre turbocharged
Power: 254hp
Torque: 390Nm
Price: From Dh126,000
Available: Now
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
Stree
Producer: Maddock Films, Jio Movies
Director: Amar Kaushik
Cast: Rajkummar Rao, Shraddha Kapoor, Pankaj Tripathi, Aparshakti Khurana, Abhishek Banerjee
Rating: 3.5
More on Quran memorisation:
More on Quran memorisation:
The years Ramadan fell in May
Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor Cricket World Cup - Sept 16-20, Insportz, Dubai
16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side
8 There are eight players per team
9 There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one.
5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls
4 Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership
Scoring In indoor cricket, runs are scored by way of both physical and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net in different zones, but only when at least one physical run is score.
Zones
A Front net, behind the striker and wicketkeeper: 0 runs
B Side nets, between the striker and halfway down the pitch: 1 run
C Side nets between halfway and the bowlers end: 2 runs
D Back net: 4 runs on the bounce, 6 runs on the full
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
Mubadala World Tennis Championship 2018 schedule
Thursday December 27
Men's quarter-finals
Kevin Anderson v Hyeon Chung 4pm
Dominic Thiem v Karen Khachanov 6pm
Women's exhibition
Serena Williams v Venus Williams 8pm
Friday December 28
5th place play-off 3pm
Men's semi-finals
Rafael Nadal v Anderson/Chung 5pm
Novak Djokovic v Thiem/Khachanov 7pm
Saturday December 29
3rd place play-off 5pm
Men's final 7pm
RESULT
Los Angeles Galaxy 2 Manchester United 5
Galaxy: Dos Santos (79', 88')
United: Rashford (2', 20'), Fellaini (26'), Mkhitaryan (67'), Martial (72')
How much do leading UAE’s UK curriculum schools charge for Year 6?
- Nord Anglia International School (Dubai) – Dh85,032
- Kings School Al Barsha (Dubai) – Dh71,905
- Brighton College Abu Dhabi - Dh68,560
- Jumeirah English Speaking School (Dubai) – Dh59,728
- Gems Wellington International School – Dubai Branch – Dh58,488
- The British School Al Khubairat (Abu Dhabi) - Dh54,170
- Dubai English Speaking School – Dh51,269
*Annual tuition fees covering the 2024/2025 academic year
