France calls Jersey ‘uncooperative’ as post-Brexit fishing line intensifies again
The French government on Thursday accused Jersey of refusing to cooperate on post-Brexit fishing licenses, reigniting tensions just weeks after Paris threatened to impose sanctions.
The island, a British crown dependency off the coast of northern France, is at the center of a dispute over licensing French fishermen following the UK’s departure from the European Union.
“It is obvious beyond any doubt that Jersey is not abiding by the Brexit deal,” French Maritime Minister Annick Girardin said during a meeting with fisheries representatives in northwestern France.
“Worse still, he is showing an unwillingness to cooperate with us,” he added.
It said 46 applications for licenses from French fishermen had not received a response from the Jersey authorities, while another 52 licenses had expired at the end of October “denying these fishermen access to Jersey waters.”
He said the government was preparing a 40-60 million euro ($ 45- $ 70 million) rescue plan for French ship owners who are forced to stay in port due to lost licenses.
“I hate to talk about the idea of financing ships that don’t go out to sea as much as you do, but in all transparency we need to organize the possibility of fleet reductions,” he said.
The plan raised alarm among fishermen and local officials, who saw it as an ominous sign that France would fail to convince Jersey to abide by post-Brexit trade agreements.
“The battle is not lost and the negotiations are not over … I cannot accept that we start a massive movement to destroy ships,” said Loig Chesnais-Girard, president of the Brittany region.
“We need diplomacy and the ability to carry these talks forward in order for the agreement to be respected, because you know as well as I do that if we give up, there will be other issues” subject to post-Brexit dispute, he said. .
Post-Brexit trade war?
In late October, France threatened to ban British ships from offloading their catch in French ports and subjecting all British imports to inspections, raising the possibility of a trade war between neighbors.
Girardin has previously raised the possibility of restricting electricity exports to Jersey, which relies on the French mainland for its energy.
Several rounds of talks between the British and French governments this month had defused tensions and averted the threat of sanctions, but without finding a lasting solution.
France believes that Britain and Jersey are unfairly targeting French vessels by denying them licenses or failing to respond to requests, undermining the agreement between Britain and the European Union that guaranteed EU fishermen continued access to the waters. British.
Britain and Jersey deny the allegations and say the rejected French vessels have been unable to prove that they previously fished in UK waters, now a condition for obtaining a license.
Analysts say relations between the United Kingdom and France are at their lowest level in decades due to tensions over Brexit and migration through the channel.
Paris was also furious at London after learning that it had engaged in secret talks with the US and Australia to form an Indo-Pacific defense pact, which saw Canberra scrap a huge order for submarines from France.
(AFP)
