the European Commission asked London at the end of November to settle the fishing license dispute before Friday.
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A never-ending negotiation. France says wait “a gesture of good will” from London to continue discussions on the post-Brexit fishing rights conflict, Friday, December 10, after threatening to go to litigation if no progress was recorded during the day.
If London “stick to its position, we will ask the European Commission, over the weekend, to announce that a dispute is underway”, reaffirmed Friday morning the French Secretary of State for European Affairs, Clément Beaune. Corn “if the British today say ‘we give a few dozen more licenses'” for French fishermen “we will take this into account (…) and perhaps we will continue” to dialogue, he immediately added.
Under the agreement signed at the end of 2020 between London and Brussels, European fishermen can continue to work in British waters provided they can prove that they were fishing there before. But for more than eleven months, the French and the British have been arguing over the nature and extent of the supporting documents to be provided.
France obtained 1,004 post-Brexit fishing licenses and in “still waiting 104”, according to the French Ministry of the Sea. Under pressure from Paris, the Commission asked London at the end of November to settle the dispute over fishing licenses before Friday 10 December. Thursday evening, the United Kingdom sharply rejected this deadline, while Paris calls for European arbitration.