Simple respite or the start of de-escalation? Monday 1er November, on the sidelines of COP26 in Glasgow, French President Emmanuel Macron said, regarding the dispute with the UK over fishing, that “The discussions must continue”. One way to suspend the ultimatum imposed until then on the British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson. Paris threatened to adopt severe retaliatory measures, such as banning the access of British ships to the majority of ports in France, if London did not grant more licenses to French fishermen, before Tuesday, November 2 .
Monday evening, Clément Beaune, Secretary of State for European Affairs, announced on Twitter that he had invited his British counterpart, Lord David Frost, to Paris, Thursday, November 4, “For an in-depth discussion on the difficulties in the application of the agreements between the European Union and the United Kingdom”. Mr. Beaune confirmed that“In order to allow open dialogue to continue, the measures announced and prepared by France will not be applied before this meeting”.
A “political choice”
Since 1er January, as part of Brexit, European fleets must acquire licenses to continue fishing in UK territorial waters and in Channel waters. Small boats must prove that they fished in these waters between 2017 and 2020. However, a few dozen of them (French) could not provide evidence of this history, explains London, and were refused their license.
In recent days, Mr. Beaune had accused London of having made a “Political choice” with these refusals, while Mr. Frost considered the French threats unjustified. But Boris Johnson did not want this conflict to pollute the start of COP26, which began on Sunday. “We are happy that France does not introduce its measures tomorrow. We have constantly said that we are ready for intensive discussions, including the examination of new evidence. [pour les demandes de licence] “, Downing Street reported. On Monday, the European Commission invited its officials, as well as French and British negotiators to a meeting to find a solution in extremis. In vain, but the discussions intensified, so that Emmanuel Macron decided to ” give a chance “ to this process.