We are fast approaching our Brexit Deadline and it appears there are still fundamental differences, between both sides, on fishing and maintaining level playing fields in competition. Neither side seems able to budge and, at the time of writing, the prospects of it getting sorted look uncertain. Why is this?
In short it’s as much down to the positions the two sides have to take, than the issues themselves.
Parties, negotiating on behalf of others and, indeed, nations, have no “wiggle room”: no ability to concede any ground nor make any compromises to ease a deal though. Both sides have to take strong positions where the result is, perhaps, more important than the relationship. This is almost surreal when it’s the basis of the ongoing relationship that they are negotiating!
A diagram, below, shows the pressures pushing both sides to the top left quadrant when it’s only when they can move to the top right box that a deal will happen. Let’s hope they can convince their sponsors that some ground needs to be given for a deal to happen. Neither can easily reduce their expectations.
CRS finds itself in a similar position when negotiating final accounts on behalf of its clients – often liquidators and administrators. The “Payer” has no concern for the relationship and it needs a balanced mixture of the “carrot” and the “stick” to agree a lot of our settlements. Sadly the desire to “do the right thing” rarely enters the dialogue and the quantum of the settlement is the only consideration.
With over 10 years, now, of solving complex debt recovery issues, we’ve developed a way to assess, quickly, the right way forward, aiming to get the best result in the best time for our Clients.