without agreement, it will be necessary “to put in place measures” of retaliation “proportional to the economic impact”, according to a French MEP

If there is no agreement with the British on fishing licenses, “measures must be put in place “ retaliatory “proportional to the economic impact” suffered by France, said Friday, December 10 on franceinfo Pierre Karleskind, MEP member of the Renew group, chairman of the European Parliament’s fisheries committee. The European Commission gave the UK an ultimatum the same day to unblock the conflict over the licenses of French fishermen and allow them to go to UK waters. “The agreement we ratified in April” with the British “provides quite explicitly” sanctions, he emphasizes.

franceinfo: If France does not obtain additional licenses, it could initiate litigation. With what chance of success?

Pierre Karleskind: The agreement that we ratified last April and that France has validated and that the European Parliament has ratified provides for things quite explicitly. There is a process. It is Europe which can take these retaliatory measures. It is important to have this in mind. This is Europe. And I can tell you, having had discussions with the European Commissioner in charge of fisheries who had his hands in the grudge of negotiations, that he is perfectly aware that there is the possibility of seizing what we call the Partnership Council which allows real retaliatory measures to be put in place which must be proportionate to the economic impact of what we are contesting on the British side.

What is the UK risk?

In the first instance, we can eliminate a certain number of accesses to our European waters since they also have boats that come to fish, for example, the scallop in the bay of the Seine. They have the right under this agreement to continue to do so. We could start asking ourselves the question of removing the authorization from them. We can introduce tariffs on the importation of fishery products. Today, they can import them freely. It is the principle of the elimination of customs duties that we have established within the framework of this agreement. We must put in place measures that are proportional to the economic impact that we have on our side on our territory. About a hundred vessels that can no longer fish in British waters, about 300 seafarers who are impacted and then about a thousand jobs ashore.

Can these sanctions be taken in the short term?

They can be taken within seven days of the European Union saying: “We are going to retaliate for the fact that you did not respect the agreement”. The Secretary of State to the Minister for Europe, Clément Beaune, says: “We will see how things go, if there is a goodwill gesture on Friday evening, after these negotiations from the British, maybe we will not go to the measures of retaliation”. But if we see that the British remain a little stuck on these negotiations, the European Commission will have to decide in the coming week to launch these retaliatory measures and therefore will have to call on the British government by saying: “We are going to put these sanctions on you”. There will then be a seven day delay before they are put in place.