While the Minister of the Sea had prepared the spirits at a relative failure of the British negotiations, Emmanuel Macron attempted to reassure fishermen, Friday.
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From a small sentence, Thursday, November 18, Annick Girardin set fire to the powders. “I will be frank with you, we need to prepare ourselves not to get everything we expected.” The Minister of the Sea anticipated that the British probably did not attribute all the fishing licenses requested by the French and evoked possible financial compensation to put an end to the life of certain boats. “I know how much it will be a heartbreaker,” she commented. She claimed having an envelope of 40 million euros.
On the bottom, this sentence had nothing new. With the Brexit, France has created a compensation fund, knowingly knowing that a number of fishermen would lose there. But, in the middle of the pre-election period, and after heavy tensions in recent weeks on this file, the declaration has been received as a confession of weakness. “Emmanuel Macron capitulated”, launched the national rally candidate, Marine Le Pen. Michel Barnier, candidate for the investiture of the party Republicans for the presidential elevation and former negotiator of Brexit, who should know the file by heart, too, distributed “the renunciation” of the government. On Friday, the head of state attempted to straighten the bar: “There is neither renunciation nor recoce. We continue both negotiation and pressure.”
150 small boats
The dispute is more symbolic than economical: it concerns about 150 small boats. Since Brexit, the delicate balance of water sharing between the United Kingdom and the European Union (EU) has been called into question. From the British referendum for the exit of the EU in 2016, the file was one of the most complicated to manage. It was released on December 24, 2020, when the negotiators’ teams discussed the distribution of species species quotas until the early morning, accraising an agreement.
If a solution was found on paper, its implementation is today at the heart of the problem. The vast majority of boats, those fishing at more than 12 miles from the coast, are entitled to an automatic license to go to the British waters. It is on this basis that the British proclaim having attributed “98%” of the licenses requested by Europeans, just over 1,800 in total, including almost half for France.
The battle concerns areas where the British authorities have a margin of appreciation. The first is between 6 and 12 miles from their coasts: 104 licenses were obtained by France, but “still lacks 54”, affirms M me girardin. Jersey is the other blocking point: 116 definitive licenses have been obtained, but 46 are only provisional and at least 13 considered as “priority” by Paris have been refused. The other Anglo-Norman Island, Guernsey, seems more lenient, with “quarantine of definitive licenses”, always according to the minister, who should be awarded in early December. The main problem concerns boats less than 12 meters, which do not have the obligation to collect the satellite data of their travels and struggle to prove the history of their fishing in British waters.