The European Union has agreed to the first post-Brexit fishing agreement with the United Kingdom

The European Union approved the agreement reached with the United Kingdom last week outlining fishing opportunities for this year from the joint management stock between the two parties, the first agreement since London left the club.

The 27 fisheries ministers gave their approval on Wednesday in an informal video conference, and it was formally adopted on Friday at the in-person meeting of the heads of energy to be held in Luxembourg.

However, details of the total allowable catch (TAC) agreed between the European and British authorities are still unknown. The agreement will be published by the British government and the European Commission, but they have not yet decided when, according to community sources familiar with Europa Press.

In addition, a series of “pending” issues, such as the exchange of quotas and some technical measures, have not yet been finalized by a joint committee specialized in fisheries affairs, the Council of the European Union said in a statement.

The European Commission and the United Kingdom sealed the agreement last Wednesday after months of negotiations. In the absence of agreement, European and British authorities set unilateral quotas so that their fleets could fish in the affected fishing grounds.

In the European case, the current temporary solution would have expired on July 31, and the European capital had already begun to assess the possibility of agreeing to a new unilateral extension already covering the whole year due to the lack of progress in the negotiations.

Consensus was closed in a telephone conversation between the Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, Virginijus Sinkevicis, and Britain’s Minister for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, George Eustice, according to the European Commission in a statement.

Specifically, the agreement limits fishing opportunities for 75 stocks under joint management for the full year, as well as for a series of deep-sea species, in this case for 2021 and also for 2022.