UK disputes France over fishing row 'deescalation'

The United Kingdom on Sunday rejected a French announcement that their leaders had agreed to deescalate a row over post-Brexit fishing rights.

Earlier, a French official said French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Johnson had agreed to try to resolve the row during a private meeting on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Rome.

But a spokesman for Johnson told reporters later: "It will be for the French to decide whether they want to step away from the threats they've made in recent days about breaching the Brexit agreement."

"Of course, we would welcome that if they want to de-escalate the threats that they have made," he added.

Stepping back from trade war?

Paris said the truce had been agreed after days of tit-for-tat threats raised the prospect of new trade barriers between France and former EU member Britain.

"The goal for both the president and the prime minister was to work towards deescalation," the French official told reporters after a one-on-one meeting between the two leaders. "We are giving ourselves the space for deescalation in the coming hours."

The official said Macron had told Britain it should obey the rules which Paris accuses London of flouting by failing to give France enough fishing licenses to operate in British waters.

According to the Elysee Palace, the goal after the meeting is to come up with practical guidelines as quickly as possible to reduce tensions, according to media reports.

France is incensed that Britain and the Channel Islands of Jersey and Guernsey have not issued some French boats permits to fish in their waters since Brexit took full effect at the start of 2021.

Britain has insisted it is meeting the conditions of the post-Brexit trade agreement.

France planned major disruption

Paris had vowed that unless more licenses are approved, it would ban UK boats from unloading their catches at French ports from Tuesday, and even impose checks on all products brought to France from Britain.

Last week, France detained a British trawler that was allegedly fishing illegally in its waters and said the captain would face trial.

Britain stepped up a war of words with France on Saturday, with Johnson refusing to rule out triggering trade dispute action.

The two sides have also been at loggerheads over a nuclear submarine alliance involving Australia, Britain and the United States, dubbed AUKUS, that left France in the cold.

mm/sms (AFP, Reuters)