Just before Emmanuel Macron again denounces “difficult relations” between the two countries, London claimed to not take into account the maturity set by the European Commission.
Le Monde with AFP
Eleven months after the post-Brexit signature, and after many incidents and threats on both sides of the Channel, the Franco-British dispute on the licenses granted to the French fishermen does not seem to go to a resolution, despite the involvement of European authorities.
The British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Thursday, December 9, that his country did not recognize the “deadline” of 10 December, set by the European Commission to obtain an outflow of crisis. “They fixed one, but it is not the one we are working on. There is a technical process that continues, based on evidence rather than on bumanery dates,” he said.
A few minutes after these statements, Emmanuel Macron, who exposed the program of the future French Presidency of the Council of the European Union, mentioned “difficult relations” between the two countries, which “are difficult because the current government So far, does not do what he says “. This is particularly the case in the licensing file. “He signed a withdrawal agreement, which imposes on the fishing to hold on our professional fishermen of commitments,” he maintained.
Annick Girardin, French Minister of the Sea, warned that if all the fishing licenses still claimed were not granted by Friday night, France would seek arbitration at European level “to see non-compliance his signature by the United Kingdom “and would go” litigation “. After several weeks of tensions, it now considers that France and the Commission are “totally on the same line” in this file.
104 Licenses at stake and the possibility of “sanctions” that emerges
Under the Agreement validated eleven months ago between London and Brussels, European fishermen can continue to work in the United Kingdom’s waters provided that they can prove that they were forever. But French and British compete with the nature and extent of the proof to be provided.
The United Kingdom refuses in particular the implementation of a clear methodology for granting licenses. The British have introduced new conditions, absent from the trade and cooperation agreement. For example, they require proof through geolocation. But the evidence requested are difficult to provide for most small vessels.
After months of negotiations, the dispute now focuses on 104 licenses, according to the French government. A total of 1 004 were granted by the British, but still lacks 53 in the area of 6-12 British miles and 51 that depend on the authorities of Jersey Island. “It’s not anecdotal, forbidden Annick Girardin, it’s Capital: It’s fishermen, families. A job at sea, it’s four jobs on the ground.”
If there has never been any confrontation, the actions and the exasperation, especially French side, have quickly appeared: first a blockade of jersey by the French fishermen in May, with the sending two British patrollers in response; an inflation of French threats of sanctions in October; and more recently blocking through the French fishermen of ports and the freight terminal of the tunnel under the sleeve. Now, according to M me girardin, one could enter the field “sanctions”: “It is the Commission that will bring the litigation and the resets, if they had to be implemented.”