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Angry French fishermen threaten British imports

AFP
AFP - [email protected]
Angry French fishermen threaten British imports
Angry French fishermen threaten British imports. Photo: Sameer Al-DOUMY / AFP

Fishermen in northern France have threatened to disrupt British imports in a bid to increase pressure on London to grant them more licences for UK waters.

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Britain agreed to issue another 23 licences to French fishermen on Saturday, a step aimed at easing tensions between the neighbours who have been at loggerheads over the issue for the last six months.

But France believes it is entitled to around 80 more UK licences and a group representing fishermen in the key port of Boulogne-sur-Mer and others along the northern coast said late Saturday that they would launch protests.

READ ALSO - EXPLAINED: Why are France and the UK fighting about fish?

"Protests should be expected ... protests that will target British imports," the local CRPMEM fishing industry group for the Hauts-de-France region said in a statement sent to AFP.

The group said its members were "exasperated" by the news of only 23 new licences and felt "betrayed" by the European Commission, which could launch legal action against Britain over the issue.

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The CRPMEM said the protests would be "in line with blockades of ports in Brittany, Normandy and the north of France which took place on November 26th".

Fishing boats briefly blocked ferries and other boats in Calais, Saint-Malo and Ouistreham on that day, while vehicles were also sent to disrupt traffic seeking to use the Channel Tunnel rail link.

France and Britain have clashed repeatedly this year over fishing as well as migrants crossing the Channel, post-Brexit trade arrangements and the sale of submarines to Australia.

London briefly deployed two gunboats in May when dozens of French trawlers massed off the Channel Island of Jersey to protest the licensing problems, prompting France to send two coastal patrol vessels.

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Joan.moore7 2021/12/12 22:03
I would with respect ask you to read it again and then see who is gullible. The uk are playing games with this agreement.
stuart.laing 2021/12/12 21:57
If you read the annex to the T&C agreement you'll see that UK is following the agreement and French demands are outside that agreement and that is why the EU is so quiet on the subject. You'll also notice that despite all the bluff and bluster the French have never backed up a complaint regarding a single licence by showing an application and supporting evidence that was then rejected. I'm sorry that you're so gullible but there we are.
Joan.moore7 2021/12/12 20:55
Alan, I am sorry your glass is still half empty, but please look at the agreement that the uk signed. The uk people were lied to. All France is asking for is what they and the uk signed up to - remember that, when Boris hailed it as a great deal? Well, maybe not in reality.
stuart.laing 2021/12/12 14:47
Not everything is as it appears. The leader of the last Fishing protest a couple of weeks ago had apparently sold his boat , along with a UK licence, bought a new unlicenced boat and was now insisting that he as skipper was licensed due to his personal fishing history in British waters. I trust he didn't get one but that claim must still have passed muster with the French authorities , if not the UK and EU.
tom.bolton 2021/12/12 13:51
This is all because of a bad agreement. If people think things are bad now, wait until the euro quota is reduced by 50% The EU have not done any planning to reduce the size of the EU fishing fleet. It is their inactivity that has been partly responsible for this crisis. Why have they not done more to help small boats with their paperwork ? - no instead they have chosen to whine and moan. I feel sorry for those who have not got licences, but this is only going to get worse as the UK will now decide who gets to fish and who will have to find other work, as they will decide who gets licences in the future They talk about taking the UK to court - but all the UK has to do is provide examples of why licences were refused - the EU know they will no win The EU does not care about fishing - hence no reprisals as yet The French are having to take things in their own hands as the rest of the EU will not support them The whole thing is a farce - the current trade agreement is poor and will lead to a trade war - it benefits neither the UK or the EU - time to start again and create an agreement of cooperation and not one of adversity

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