Snakey fish fight is center stage as U.K.’s new environmental measures rub the EU the wrong way.

Snakey fish fight is center stage as U.K.’s new environmental measures rub the EU the wrong way.

When the U.K. left the EU, Brussels insisted on strict “level playing-field” rules as a check on Tories turning their country into a deregulated offshore tax haven.

But fast-forward to 2024 and it’s tougher new U.K. environmental measures that are increasingly rubbing the EU up the wrong way — at least when it comes to protecting sea-life.

In March, irate French ministers asked the European Commission to investigate whether a ban on “bottom trawling” in protected marine areas — brought in on conservation grounds — breached the terms of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) between the two countries.

  • Skua@kbin.social
    4·
    6 months ago

    It feels weird to frame this as an EU objection considering that Greece has also put the same kind of ban in place. It’s specifically France objecting.

    But for other Brexiteers, the policies help illustrate the flexibility the U.K. has outside the EU on matters which would have previously been subject to lengthy negotiation under the Commons Fisheries Policy — and which Brussels and member states are outright hostile to for their own reasons.

    Brexit benefits! We could never have done this as EU members without a whole load of negotiations, please ignore that we’re still dealing with a whole load of negotiations over it and also that EU member Greece did it on a larger scale than us!

    • richmondez@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      6 months ago

      Don’t let pesky things like facts ruin a perfectly fine feel good piece to make gammon feel a bit chuffed with themselves.