France accuses the United Kingdom of not respecting the trade and cooperation pact
France begins to lose patience due to the delay of the British authorities in granting 73 licenses corresponding to its fishermen. For this reason, the Government has decided to demand that the European Commission take political and legal actions to increase the pressure on the Boris Johnson Executive. “We have obtained 93% of the permits agreed after Brexit, but there are still a few dozen ships, families who are waiting, whom we must defend,” said the Secretary of State for European Affairs, Clément Beaune on Friday after maintaining a meeting at the Elysee palace with a delegation from the fleet. “The next step is for the European Commission to convene what is called the Association Council that provides for the Brexit agreement when there is a problem,” he added.
France accuses the United Kingdom of not respecting the commercial and cooperation pact adopted in December 2020 by the London Parliament to grant licenses to its fishermen and access to a zone of six to twelve nautical miles off the British coast, as well as the from the islands of Jersey and Guernsey.
According to the Minister of the Sea, Annick Girardin, also present at the meeting, France continues to request 73 licenses. Among them, the Government will quickly draw up a list of the so-called “highest priority”, for which it will ask Brussels to initiate a dispute.
“It will certainly take several weeks, perhaps several months. The fishermen know it, but the simple act of unleashing this, which the British have always rejected, will be a sign of the European commitment to the policy of dialogue and firmness that we apply, “said Beaune.
The Association Council action considered urgent. “It is a political body that has never met for the moment, but we ask that it do so as soon as possible to tell the British that the problem of French fishermen is a European problem, that we are 100% in agreement,” he concluded. Secretary of State for European Affairs.
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