EU and UK negotiators pressed on with talks on Saturday with no sign of them breaking an impasse over post-Brexit fishing rights in time to save a trade deal.
Fishing is now the main obstacle to any pact that could be in place on January 1 to prevent an economic jolt on both sides of the Channel as Britain leaves the single market.
“It remains very blocked,” one EU diplomat said.
Another said Brussels had made Britain its last offer on fishing access and it was down now to UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson to decide whether he wants a deal.
“If Britain doesn’t accept the latest EU offer it will be a ‘no deal’ over fish,” he said.
The EU’s Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, has proposed EU fishermen giving up about a quarter of the value of the fish they currently catch in UK waters.
Britain is understood to be holding out for getting back much more than half.
The UK has suggested this compromise should last for three years before it is renegotiated, whereas Europe is holding out for seven.
“It’s all down to numbers now,” another European diplomat said.
Mr Barnier has consulted member states that share fishing waters with Britain but has been told to stand his ground.
The European Parliament has highlighted a deadline of 11pm on Sunday to receive a deal for review if members of the European parliament are to ratify it before the end of the year.
Their UK parliamentary counterparts are in recess, but can be recalled within 48 hours to do likewise.
France’s European affairs minister, Clement Beaune, warned that time left to get a deal was “a matter of hours,” echoing words used by Mr Barnier a day earlier.
The urgency of reaching a deal is being driven home by scenes of long lines of trucks at the freight rail link through the Channel tunnel as British companies frantically stockpile.
A group of UK MPs warned on Saturday that Britain has not installed the complex IT systems and port infrastructure needed to ensure trade with the EU runs smoothly.
Some disruption is inevitable whether a deal happens or not.
Outside the single market, British and European traders will have to fill out import-export, health and tax forms to send and receive goods.
A deal would lighten that burden by removing tariffs, but there would still be traffic snarls as checks on truck loads and drivers’ papers are carried out.
On Saturday there were miles of tailbacks due to queuing lorries at British ports.
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Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
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Usain Bolt's World Championships record
2007 Osaka
200m Silver
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2009 Berlin
100m Gold
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2011 Daegu
100m Disqualified in final for false start
200m Gold
4x100m relay Gold
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100m Gold
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How green is the expo nursery?
Some 400,000 shrubs and 13,000 trees in the on-site nursery
An additional 450,000 shrubs and 4,000 trees to be delivered in the months leading up to the expo
Ghaf, date palm, acacia arabica, acacia tortilis, vitex or sage, techoma and the salvadora are just some heat tolerant native plants in the nursery
Approximately 340 species of shrubs and trees selected for diverse landscape
The nursery team works exclusively with organic fertilisers and pesticides
All shrubs and trees supplied by Dubai Municipality
Most sourced from farms, nurseries across the country
Plants and trees are re-potted when they arrive at nursery to give them room to grow
Some mature trees are in open areas or planted within the expo site
Green waste is recycled as compost
Treated sewage effluent supplied by Dubai Municipality is used to meet the majority of the nursery’s irrigation needs
Construction workforce peaked at 40,000 workers
About 65,000 people have signed up to volunteer
Main themes of expo is ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’ and three subthemes of opportunity, mobility and sustainability.
Expo 2020 Dubai to open in October 2020 and run for six months
More from Aya Iskandarani
KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN MARITIME DISPUTE
2000: Israel withdraws from Lebanon after nearly 30 years without an officially demarcated border. The UN establishes the Blue Line to act as the frontier.
2007: Lebanon and Cyprus define their respective exclusive economic zones to facilitate oil and gas exploration. Israel uses this to define its EEZ with Cyprus
2011: Lebanon disputes Israeli-proposed line and submits documents to UN showing different EEZ. Cyprus offers to mediate without much progress.
2018: Lebanon signs first offshore oil and gas licencing deal with consortium of France’s Total, Italy’s Eni and Russia’s Novatek.
2018-2019: US seeks to mediate between Israel and Lebanon to prevent clashes over oil and gas resources.
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