Lionel Gougelot, edited by Manon Fossat
The French fishermen are fed up and they have decided to strike in their turn. To protest against the United Kingdom which still does not grant them authorizations to fish in English waters, they have indeed decided to carry out a punch operation and to target the country’s exports in order to impact the British economy.
There are around 150 French fishing boats still waiting for the green light from London to continue their operation in English waters deemed to be more fishy, as had been concluded in the Brexit agreements. In protest at the UK’s refusal to let them work in British waters, French fishermen plan to stage a coordinated action in the coming days to “hit the British economy”. This time they are announcing a sting operation to ask the European Union to also assume its responsibilities vis-à-vis the United Kingdom.
‘Warn Boris Johnson’
From Brest to Dunkirk, all the fishermen from the Atlantic coast, the English Channel and the North Sea will be involved in the operation. This action will not aim to block French ports but will impact exports to the United Kingdom, assures Olivier Leprêtre, president of the regional fisheries committee in Boulogne-sur-Mer. “We are aiming more for exports because there is no question of slowing down the French economy. We will affect the British economy. The poor English people are already in need of products (since the entry into force of Brexit) and unfortunately they will still have a ladle,” he says.
The terms of the operation will be defined on Thursday. But the aim of this warning shot is to put pressure on the EU to force the British to grant fishing licenses in accordance with the Brexit agreements. “The aim is to ask the Commission to take its responsibilities and enforce the agreement. Then it is to warn Boris Johnson and tell him ‘Be careful, your fishermen have access to the European market, I don’t see why our boats would not have access to British waters. So now you are doing what it takes to enforce the agreement,'” continues Olivier Leprêtre.
With this large-scale action, which could take place at the end of the week or at the beginning of next week, French fishermen hope that Europe will itself take the retaliatory measures which the French government has renounced.