If the 53 licenses pending UK approval are not approved by Friday, Paris will call on the EU to go "to litigation", French sea minister Annick Girardin warned Thursday.

The UK responded by saying that it was not working to a Friday deadline the European Union gave it last month to resolve a row with France over post-Brexit fishing rights.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson's spokesperson told reporters, "we've never set a deadline. I recognize they (the EU) themselves have set one, but it's not one we're working to."

France is calling for more fishing licenses from London and the Channel Island of Jersey as part of the agreement signed on Christmas Eve last year.

The fishing row

The repercussions of Brexit are seemingly never-ending, with each day revealing a new facet of the aftermath.

The Brexit trade deal stipulates that EU fishing boats may still fish in British waters if they obtain a license, on the condition that they prove they had previously been fishing in said area.

Small French boats have found this hard to prove given their lack of appropriate technology, thus failing to secure licenses from British authorities. 

France has repeatedly stressed that British authorities were well aware of these boats having operated in the UK waters before, accusing London of acting in bad faith.

According to France's Europe Minister Clement Beaune, more than 40% of French requests are pending or have been refused, noting that: "For the EU as a whole, around 90% of the expected licenses have been granted, but all the missing ones are French."