RTE News' Europe editor, Tony Connelly, reports
In a tweet thread, it is said that the EU is considering to make a more explicit link between energy and fishing in Brexit negotiations, as an attempt to get the UK to compromise on the latter in order to break the current deadlock in talks.
A source said that "the position of the UK on fishing is quite strong", so it is understood that the EU is allegedly looking to try and leverage on other parts of negotiations to try and reach a better deal for both parties.
It's understood that negotiations on the access the UK will have to the EU's energy market as a third country were close to being finalised.
However, officials say the EU has been reluctant to close individual chapters of the talks as that would weaken the EU's position on the most difficult outstanding issues, such as fisheries, the so-called level playing field, and governance.
Officials caution that the EU will *not* use energy as a "hostage" in order to secure concessions on fisheries, but that holding out on closing the energy chapter would strengthen the EU's hand.
"In that context, there's no point in finalising things like energy, which are in the UK's interest," says one official familiar with the negotiations.
I don't see how adding more stuff into the mix is going to make things less complicated and honestly, the intentions in doing so could easily be misrepresented.
As mentioned before, when it comes to Brexit, nothing is agreed until everything is agreed. So, case in point. I wouldn't say this is a positive development but if the UK does see it as a potential solution, then perhaps there is some progress to be had.
