The European Union and Britain on Wednesday finalized an agreement for fishing rights in the Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea for 2022 after tough talks and a temporary deal struck in December.
Joze Podgorsek, minister for agriculture in Slovenia and chair of the talks said in a press release the successful agreement on fishing rights "sets a good precedent for future negotiations with the UK."
The deal sets out how many tons of fish stock EU and British vessels may land in jointly managed waters without breaching sustainability limits.
Slovenia currently holds the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU and coordinates the bloc's work.
The environmental organization Oceana criticized the deal in a press release however and said the agreed quotas cause certain fish stocks to be overexploited.
After Britain's exit from the EU, fish stocks jointly managed by the two sides are considered shared resources in international law with fishing rights negotiated each year under Britain's trade agreement with the bloc.
Tensions between France and Britain disrupted these talks throughout the year - raising the political stakes in a highly technical process - with both sides unhappy over French fishing licenses for Channel Island waters.
Recent breakthroughs however resulted in an accelerated progress towards Wednesday's final agreement.
Earlier in December, the EU and Britain reached a provisional deal for the first three months of 2022 at a meeting for the bloc's agriculture ministers responsible for fisheries.
The EU is set to adopt the final agreement as a legal text which retroactively applies from January 1, 2022.
