France and Jersey to restart fishing talks after island offers to postpone new post-Brexit rules
France will reopen negotiations with the Channel Island of Jersey "in the coming hours" over the licensing of French fishing boats after tensions flared about new access rules, Maritime Minister Annick Girardin said on Tuesday.
She told parliament the island - a British crown dependency but not a part of the UK - had offered to postpone its new rules until July.
"Jersey has proposed pushing back these technical restrictions to end-July, so that we can resume talks in the coming hours, and I am going to respond in writing," she told lawmakers.
She had warned last week that France was weighing "retaliation measures" against Jersey, which under a post-Brexit accord is supposed to allow access to French boats hoping to fish off its coast.
ANALYSIS How far will France's post-Brexit fishing row with Jersey go?
Fishermen say the new conditions on licenses were imposed without any discussion with Paris, and effectively create new zoning rules.
Paris and London had already clashed over French claims that fishermen are being prevented from operating elsewhere in British waters because of difficulties in obtaining licences.
Last Thursday, around 50 French boats converged on Jersey's harbour at Saint Helier, prompting Britain to dispatch two Navy vessels in case of a blockade.
France also deployed police patrol boats, but the standoff ended without any of the incidents such as boat-rammings or stone throwing, which have marred previous protests.
The EU's Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier warned earlier on Tuesday "there will probably be consequences" for London if it does not honour the trade accords hammered out before its exit from the bloc last January.
"We have a serious problem concerning Jersey, which I don't understand, unless it's a question of unwillingness," Barnier told journalists in the Europresse association.
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She told parliament the island - a British crown dependency but not a part of the UK - had offered to postpone its new rules until July.
"Jersey has proposed pushing back these technical restrictions to end-July, so that we can resume talks in the coming hours, and I am going to respond in writing," she told lawmakers.
She had warned last week that France was weighing "retaliation measures" against Jersey, which under a post-Brexit accord is supposed to allow access to French boats hoping to fish off its coast.
ANALYSIS How far will France's post-Brexit fishing row with Jersey go?
Fishermen say the new conditions on licenses were imposed without any discussion with Paris, and effectively create new zoning rules.
Paris and London had already clashed over French claims that fishermen are being prevented from operating elsewhere in British waters because of difficulties in obtaining licences.
Last Thursday, around 50 French boats converged on Jersey's harbour at Saint Helier, prompting Britain to dispatch two Navy vessels in case of a blockade.
France also deployed police patrol boats, but the standoff ended without any of the incidents such as boat-rammings or stone throwing, which have marred previous protests.
The EU's Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier warned earlier on Tuesday "there will probably be consequences" for London if it does not honour the trade accords hammered out before its exit from the bloc last January.
"We have a serious problem concerning Jersey, which I don't understand, unless it's a question of unwillingness," Barnier told journalists in the Europresse association.
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