This number remains very below the 104 licenses demanded by France in recent days, threatening to go to litigation in the absence by Friday of “Gesture of Good Will” from London.
Le Monde with AFP
The United Kingdom has granted 23 additional licenses to French fishermen, said Saturday, December 11 a spokesman for the British government. This announcement falls the day after a deadline fixed by the French government in the post-Brexit fishing rights conflict.
This number remains very below the 104 licenses demanded by France in recent days, threatening to go to litigation in the absence by Friday of “Gesture of Good Will” from London.
“Last night, after receiving additional supporting documents from the European Commission, the United Kingdom has granted 18 licenses to replacement vessels” taking the place of boats fishing before in the British waters. This announcement was confirmed by the European Commission, which negotiates on behalf of France. “More in-depth technical work continues on seven additional license applications for alternative vessels, and should be concluded Monday,” added the British spokesperson.
In addition, Jersey’s Anglo-Norman Island, who grants his licenses independently, approved Saturday 5 new licenses to the French fishermen, continued the same spokesman. According to him, these decisions “conclude the period of intensive talks” of the last days between London and the European Commission.
81 licenses still requested
Under the agreement signed at the end of 2020 between London and Brussels, European fishermen may continue to work in British waters provided that they could prove that they were before. But for more than eleven months, French and British compete on the nature and extent of the proof to provide.
With the 23 approvals announced on Saturday, France has so far obtained 1,027 post-Brexit fishing licenses and therefore reclaims yet 81. “This decision is an important step in a long process. We will examine (…) The legal basis of each license application that has not yet been approved “, stressed Saturday on Twitter European Commissioner for Virginjus Sinkevicius fishing.
Will
Paris give up the path of official disputes? The government must leave the time for reflection during the weekend to find out what answer adopt. Several scenarios were envisaged, from the darker to the most optimistic. If the United Kingdom had to camp on its lasting position, France could ask the European Commission “to announce that one litigation is committed”, to regain the terms of the Secretary of State for European Affairs, Clément Beaune.
On the other hand, a “strong gesture” – of the order of about sixty licenses granted to French fishermen, as well as a relaxation of the criteria imposed by the British – would be likely to deflate the crisis, estimate-T -on in Paris.
Ambivalences left in the Brexit Agreement
The French position must be stopped between Clément Beaune and Prime Minister Jean Castex. But Emmanuel Macron also look closely with this subject at high symbolic value, four months from the presidential election. “I’m terribly wanting to have a [British] government that wants to simply work in good faith with us,” said the head of state Thursday. “We will not let go of our fishermen,” he said, on the 19th of November, promising to receive them before Christmas.
The disagreement comes from the ambivalences left in the agreement of Brexit. The boats capable of proving that they went to the British waters between 2012 and 2016 can benefit from a license. But the evidence that needed have not been clearly defined. For the smaller ships, less than twelve meters, which do not have GPS data, they are sometimes difficult to provide. The problem also concerns fishermen who have changed boat, which are not automatically recognized. These discussions, who could have been technical, became a political symbol.