Deadline in UK-France fishing row passes without agreement
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France threatens to push for legal action if there is no ‘sign of goodwill’ in granting its boat licenses to fish in British waters.
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Deadline in UK-France fishing row passes without an agreement.
In a post-Brexit fishing dispute, an EU deadline for the UK to provide licenses to dozens of French boats has passed without an agreement being announced.
On Friday, there were rumblings that negotiations over fishing licenses for small French boats in British seas would yield a breakthrough, but sources suggested the UK government was unlikely to announce an agreement as the midnight deadline came and went.
If there was no "sign of goodwill" by the Friday deadline set by Brussels, France threatened to press the European Union for legal action and trade sanctions against the UK.
The European Commission had predicted a resolution of the disagreement by midnight.
Resolution of disagreement
The primary point of disagreement is the number of fishing licenses available in British coastal waters for smaller French vessels that can prove they fished there before Brexit.
According to France, 104 of its boats are still missing licenses to operate in British and Channel Island seas, which should have been granted under the Brexit deal reached by the UK and the European Union in December last year.
The UK previously denied discriminating against French boats, claiming that many of them lack the paperwork needed to obtain a license.
“This is a technical process based on evidence rather than deadlines,” a British government spokesman said.
Clément Beaune, France's Europe minister, said that the UK may award "a few dozen additional [licenses] as a gesture of goodwill," allowing discussions to continue, while the European Commission indicated it hoped for a breakthrough later on Friday.
“If they stick to their guns, then we will ask the European Commission to begin a legal complaint,” Beaune told Franceinfo radio on Friday.
“A legal procedure does not just involve papers and courts, it’s also measured, for example, customs measures, that Europe can take collectively to tell the British in certain sectors, ‘since you do not respect the agreement, some of your products are not recognized’.”
Read more: France-UK Tensions Soar Over Fishing Spat
'No conclusions reached'
On Friday, George Eustice, the UK environment secretary, met with Virginijus Sinkeviius, the EU environment commissioner.
“Intensive technical discussions over recent days have been constructive, however, they have not yet reached their conclusion,” the UK spokesperson said.
“Our position remains that vessels must provide sufficient evidence of historic fishing activity to receive a license.”
Brussels has set a deadline of 10 December for the matter to be resolved, but Downing Street stated on Thursday that it does not recognize the deadline.
“We’ve never set a deadline. I recognize they [the EU] themselves have set one but it’s not one we’re working to,” a spokesperson for the UK prime minister, Boris Johnson, said on Thursday.
Beaune said the UK government’s comment was “surprising”, adding: “It’s not really a sign of trust.”
UK-France fishing crisis
This year, France and the United Kingdom have battled several times over fisheries, as well as migrants crossing the Channel, post-Brexit trade agreements, and submarine sales to Australia.
“The problem with the British government is that it does not do what it says,” the French president, Emmanuel Macron, said on Thursday, accusing London of failing to keep its word on Brexit and the fishing licenses.
