A meeting was held on Friday, December 17 in the morning at the Élysée Palace, on the conflict over fishing licenses between France and the United Kingdom. Emmanuel Macron received representatives of French fishermen and local elected officials, including the mayor of Boulogne-sur-Mer, Frédéric Cuvillier. Guest on franceinfo, the one who is also ex-Secretary of State for Transport, the Sea and Fisheries, welcomed France’s toughening up, but calls for “put a little common sense in relationships” between the two countries.
franceinfo: France will ask the European Commission to initiate post-Brexit litigation against the United Kingdom, in order to obtain the missing fishing licenses. Are you satisfied with that?
Frédéric cuvillier : This is one of the answers that must be given to the British government, which is playing time and using all dilatory procedures to avoid distributing what is expected for European and French fishermen. So it is important to show the determination of the French government and the President of the Republic, on the eve of France’s presidency of the European Union, but also to ensure that the discussion can continue so that a certain number can be lifted. of disputes. It is about exploitation, it is about people and fishermen, about families and in many cases there is an obvious unwillingness that we must know how to overcome.
It’s not so much an ongoing discussion as a hardening tone?
Sure. But in order to have a firm discussion, there must be acts that accompany the words. And the fact that we are starting with a partial dispute, which is a procedure provided for in the Brexit Treaty, is a necessary measure, especially since we must be able to add hope for this whole sector. We must ensure the dynamism and the future for the entire fishing industry, the transformation of seafood products, to ensure that there are prospects. We cannot bring ourselves to see us finally having a triple sentence, with the prohibition of fishing zones and the decommissioning of vessels, that is to say the scrapping of the vessel. The President of the Republic indicated that he would take initiatives in this direction, which must be accompanied by a necessary discussion. The British are our neighbors and they will remain so. They will even have to be our partners. They themselves suffer from the Brexit decision. Maybe now is the time to put some common sense into the relationships we need to build from this Brexit reality.
There are 73 pending fishing licenses, according to the Minister of the Sea. But there are also licenses that have been refused …
Yes, and we must not forget these fishermen. They will not have a UK license. So there must be solidarity measures from Europe and the country. We need a modernization plan. We must help, support, to improve competitiveness. We have vessels which are extremely old, which are energy intensive, which consume a lot and which hamper the profitability of the operation. So you have to look at it on a case-by-case basis. We must modernize the fleet, make it more efficient, more selective, more sustainable, and that we can have sectors that are sectors of the future, professional training for young fishermen, because we need this economic activity.
Has a horizon been given to fishermen who are still seeking a license to fish in UK waters?
We are very dependent on the goodwill of our neighbors. What has been indicated is that, before the end of the year, we would be in this process of referring partial litigation to the Commission before the end of the year. At the same time, it is up to European and French diplomacy to initiate the means of dialogue and to bring our neighbors back to common sense. They are tough negotiators. As Minister for Transport, the Sea and Fisheries, I have had many discussions with our British neighbors and friends whom we know very well. They know how to hold an agreement and finally find the details that allow them to free themselves from it. So we have to bring them to their senses and make sure to demonstrate to them that they need to have good relations with Europe, that they are dependent on these good relations, whether it be from a point of view. economic view or not. But that they cannot lean on technical provisions which go beyond even the signed texts.