Brussels urged to drop 'indefensible' ban on UK shellfish

Harry Yorke
·3 min read
It emerged last week that Brussels had told British fishermen they would be indefinitely banned from selling live mussels, oysters, clams, cockles and scallops to the EU because the UK was now a third country - Andy Buchanan/AFP
It emerged last week that Brussels had told British fishermen they would be indefinitely banned from selling live mussels, oysters, clams, cockles and scallops to the EU because the UK was now a third country - Andy Buchanan/AFP

Brussels has been told to drop its "indefensible" ban on the export of live UK shellfish to the bloc as a senior French MEP told the European Commission the move "doesn't make any sense".

George Eustice, the Environment Secretary, on Tuesday accused the European Commission of U-turning on previous reassurances that British fishermen would still be able to sell unpurified molluscs to member states.

He said there was no legal barrier to the trade continuing after Brexit on animal or public health grounds, and that the UK was asking the EU to abide by its "existing regulations and not seek to change them".

His comments were echoed by Pierre Karleskind, a French MEP who chairs the EU Parliament's fisheries committee, who told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "The fact is the UK waters didn't become dirty on December 31 at midnight, so this really doesn't make any sense."

The row comes after it emerged last week that Brussels had told British fishermen they would be indefinitely banned from selling live mussels, oysters, clams, cockles and scallops to the EU because the UK was now a third country.

Countries that do not meet the EU's standards have to purify their catch domestically before it is sanctioned for export. The process adds significant costs and delays, with British businesses impacted warning that they will no longer be viable.

The move also appears to directly contradict earlier advice issued by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which believed the temporary trade barrier would come to an end in April.

In the Commons on Monday, Mr Eustice warned that if the EU failed to change course the UK could in turn end the "pragmatic and sensible" approach it had adopted to policing its territorial waters.

George Eustice played down suggestions that the Government could deploy retaliatory measures - Pippa Fowles/AFP
George Eustice played down suggestions that the Government could deploy retaliatory measures - Pippa Fowles/AFP

His comments prompted Tory MPs to demand that the UK begin boarding European fishing vessels if they enter the UK's exclusive economic zone, which extends up to 200 miles off the coast.

Appealing for calm on Tuesday, Mr Eustice played down suggestions that the Government could deploy retaliatory measures.

However, ratcheting up the pressure on Brussels, he added: "It's quite unexpected and really indefensible that the European Commission made clear only last week that they were going to change their policy on this and, as things stand, put a ban on the trade altogether. Previously they'd been clear that this is trade that could continue, and all they needed to do was design the right export health certificate.

"The truth is there is no legal barrier to this trade continuing, both on animal health grounds and on public health grounds – there is legal provision within existing EU regulations to allow such trade to continue from the UK. We are just asking the EU to abide by their existing regulations and not to seek to change them.

"They did change their position just last week – prior to that they had been clear that this was a trade that could continue – so we want to work to understand why they are proposing a change at this stage."