Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has warned France that the UK is prepared to take legal action over the protracted dispute over post-Brexit fishing rights. The warning comes as hundreds of French vessels were denied licenses to operate in UK and Jersey seas last month.
France vowed to ban British vessels from entering several of its ports and cut electricity to Jersey in reprisal. According to Truss, France is acting “unfairly” by setting a deadline for awarding new fishing licenses.
Officials in Paris have threatened to take action if this does not happen by Tuesday. On Monday afternoon, representatives from the European Commission, France, the United Kingdom, and the Channel Islands will meet.
According to a commission representative, the meeting should result in a quick resolution to the issue. The UK has been accused by France of making a “political decision” by rejecting “more than 40%” of French boat applications to fish in UK and Channel Island seas.
However, Lord Frost, the UK’s Brexit minister, stated that the UK has been “extremely liberal” in accepting EU vessel applications. Truss said fishing licenses had been granted to French vessels “completely in conformity” with the two countries’ post-Brexit agreement.
She said that until France backs off, the UK would use the dispute resolution process in the trade deal we struck with the EU to take action against the French.
“We’re simply not going to roll over in the face of these threats,” Truss said.
In the run-up to next year’s presidential election, France’s nationalist right is putting a lot of pressure on Emmanuel Macron. He stands to gain a lot by symbolically raising the French flag and being perceived as standing up to “perfidious Albion,” as the French has referred to the British for centuries.
Boris Johnson is well aware that a spat with the French – or with Brussels – will appeal to a large portion of his Conservative Party and many of his followers.
Critics claim that the conflict could just be a diversion from domestic issues such as rising gas costs, supply shortages, and the lingering economic impact of the pandemic.
Despite the fact that fishing represents only a small portion of both the British and French economies, it has remained a contentious political issue throughout the Brexit process. The latest spat erupted when France confiscated a British boat and penalized another during checks off the coast of Le Havre last week.
