(Bloomberg) —
Britain and France’s post-Brexit fishing row is likely headed for a tense climax on Monday, as a key deadline approaches and officials consider options to defuse the spat.
The French government’s cutoff to impose sanctions on the U.K. over restricted post-Brexit fishing rights is at midnight, an official from the Elysee palace said. Meanwhile the government of the British isle of Jersey, which is in the crosshairs of the dispute, is considering giving extra temporary licenses to French boats, a person familiar with the matter said, a move that may yet prevent tensions deteriorating into an all-out trade war.
Officials from both sides started a meeting at 2:30 p.m. on Monday to discuss the license issue. As of 4 p.m., the talks were ongoing.
Though the fishing rights at stake represent only a fraction of each countries’ economy, they have become a major flash point in the U.K.-France relationship following Britain’s departure from the European Union and was one of the biggest issues hanging over the Group of 20 summit in Rome over the weekend.
France has accused the U.K. of wrongly denying French trawlers’ access to British waters, and will from Tuesday introduce additional controls on goods arriving from Britain. It will also block British fishing boats from unloading their catches in France.
The U.K. has said it will take legal action if France follows through with its threats, without giving details. The French government has also warned it will raise energy costs for the British Channel Islands, which are heavily reliant on electricity from France via an undersea cable.
‘Within Our Rights’
“Stop threatening U.K. fishing vessels, stop threatening the Channel ports and accept that we are entirely within our rights to allocate the fishing licenses in line with the trade agreement,” U.K. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss told Sky News on Monday, when asked what her message is for the French government.
A Sunday meeting between Prime Minister Boris Johnson and French President Emmanuel Macron in Rome failed to resolve the dispute, meaning the standoff is now bleeding into the COP26 climate talks hosted by the U.K.
Following their meeting, neither side could even agree on what was said. A Macron aide briefed that the two leaders would work together to find a way to deliver licenses to French boats ahead of the deadline, while Johnson’s spokesman said it was up to Paris to make the first move.
It’s not only the U.K.’s relationship with France that’s being severely tested by Brexit. Johnson’s government is embroiled in a spat with the EU over Northern Ireland and the disruption in the region following the divorce.
Protocol Trouble
Britain’s Brexit minister David Frost issued a scathing attack on the bloc on Monday over its handling of the issue, saying it had behaved “without regard to the huge political, economic, and identity sensitivities involved” in the region.
European Commission Vice-President Maros Sefcovic, who is negotiating with Frost over changes to the Brexit deal concerning Northern Ireland, wrote in a newspaper column that he is concerned the U.K. is seeking confrontation.
Why Is Everyone Talking About Brexit and N. Ireland Again?: Q&A
In a timely reminder of what’s at stake, masked men hijacked a bus in Northern Ireland at gunpoint before setting it on fire on Monday, an attack likely linked to the ongoing Brexit disruption.
Speaking to reporters at the climate summit in Glasgow, Ireland’s Prime Minister Micheal Martin said Europe has “come a long way” in talks over the so-called Northern Ireland protocol, and urged the U.K. to “respond in kind.”
Diplomatic Hurdle
The timing for Johnson is far from ideal as he seeks to cajole global leaders into a climate agreement on which he’s staked considerable political capital. The French trade sanctions on the U.K. over fishing are set to coincide with the leaders’ final day in Glasgow.
Macron’s government says that 40% of the detailed French requests for licenses to fish in U.K. waters are still pending 10 months after the trade agreement was signed — and that requests from other EU members have all been processed. The U.K. counters that it has granted 98% of license applications from EU vessels since Brexit.
Much now depends on Jersey, which has rejected 55 applications from French trawlers on the basis they didn’t have enough evidence to prove that they fished in Jersey’s waters historically.
The question is whether the Jersey and U.K. governments back down and give more fishing licenses over the next few days. On Sunday, Macron said France had proposed a new methodology for how French trawlers could prove they have access rights, and said France is waiting for the British response.
‘Being Silly’
Asked whether the U.K. would support Jersey in accepting a lower evidence threshold for proving historic fishing activity, Johnson’s official spokesman, Max Blain, said that is a matter for the Jersey government.
“We continue to have discussions with out French counterparts at a number of different levels,” Blain told reporters in Glasgow. “We absolutely stand ready to grant more licenses should the requisite evidence be provided.”
Ian Gorst, Jersey’s external relations minister, said his government had “tumbled over ourselves” to be engaging and reasonable with France’s requests and would continue to consider evidence supporting fishing license applications. But he said France’s threats are “extremely frustrating.”
“It’s bordering on they’re just being silly,” he told Sky News.
(Updates with extra details of meeting, U.K. spokesman comments from third paragraph)
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