For France, the account is still not there: while the European Commission has asked the United Kingdom to settle the post-Brexit dispute over fishing licenses by Friday, negotiations are continuing between Brussels, Paris and London.
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“Negotiations are underway on the remaining licenses. We are continuing the discussions and expecting positive results by December 10, ”French Minister of the Sea, Annick Girardin, told AFP on Tuesday evening.
On the British side, we are assured of working tirelessly to solve the problems, according to a source at the Ministry of the Environment, which oversees fishing, without however mentioning a date.
While bilateral relations have deteriorated further recently on the migration issue, meetings have been linked in recent days on fishing under the aegis of the European Commission.
It has now been more than eleven months that this issue plagues Franco-British relations. No one is satisfied. French fishermen feel cheated, Paris has raised its voice, asking the Commission to be “more active”, and London is procrastinating, not hearing its conduct dictated by a Europe it has chosen to leave.
Under the Brexit 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 previously. But the French and the British argue over the nature and extent of the supporting documents to be provided.
Since January 1, 2021, France has obtained around a thousand fishing licenses in British waters and those of the Channel Islands, but Paris is still asking for a hundred.
“Risk of overexploitation”
The tone has already risen, bordering on confrontation on several occasions: a blockade of Jersey by French fishermen last May, which resulted in the dispatch of two British patrol boats; an inflation of French threats of sanctions in October; and more recently, the blocking by French fishermen of the ports and freight terminal of the Channel Tunnel, through which 25% of trade between the United Kingdom and Europe passes.
French fishermen, overwhelmed by months of waiting and the feeling that Europe is “letting them down” when they have provided “all the papers requested”, said they were ready to go further if no progress was made. quickly realized.
“I repeat: no ship will be left without a solution. We know how to count on the action of the Commission to defend with us the demands of French fishermen, ”said Annick Girardin on Tuesday evening.
While discussions are progressing peacefully with the island of Guernsey, considered by Paris as a “reliable partner” and which granted 43 definitive licenses to French fishermen on December 1, trade is much more strained with London and the Bailiwick of Jersey.
Eager to see the situation unblocked, Paris has targeted “as a priority” a few dozen cases: those of ships whose economic survival depends largely on access to British waters.
For weeks, discussions have stumbled over the fate of 40 replacement boats (recently acquired by fishermen to renew their fleet) mainly located in Hauts-de-France (north): their situation is particularly dramatic because they no longer have any access to British waters since January 1, 2021, with losses ranging from 20 to 50% of turnover, according to the National Fisheries Committee.
About a quarter of French catches (excluding the Mediterranean) in volume (around 20% in value) come from British waters, which are very rich in fish and which are the source of 650 million euros in annual sales for European fishermen.
In the absence of British licenses for European vessels, fishermen also warn of a “risk of overexploitation” of the resource on the French side.
“The negotiations are in fact only just beginning”, sighs an official of the fisheries committee, stressing that in addition to the issue of licenses, it is necessary to tackle that of “fishing methods and quotas” and “there, the discussions are already very, very tense ”.