Eleven months after Brexit, about 150 French boats are still waiting for permissions to put their nets in the British waters.
Le Monde with Reuters
This is the “semonce shot” they announced since the beginning of the week to demand the fast grant by the United Kingdom of post-Brexit fishing licenses. The French fishermen will proceed, on Friday, November 26, to goods blocking operations in the ports of Saint-Malo, Ouistreham, and Calais and at the level of the Tunnel under the Channel, said a spokesman of the National Committee of Fisheries Thursday.
a Calais, the port will be paralyzed from 12 hours at 1:30 pm, while the tunnel under the handlebar will be blocked with inflows and outings by means of vans, “said Olivier Lepreet, Chairman of the Regional Fisheries Committee for the Hauts-de-France. In Saint-Malo, the port will be blocked from 8 am to 9 o’clock, said his Breton counterpart, Olivier the Nezet.
Settlement by December 10
For his part, the European Commission asked Wednesday in London to settle this post-Brexit litigation. “Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevicius [Environment and Fisheries] has spoke (…) with the Minister [British] George Eustice and insisted that litigation on fishing licenses be concluded from 10.12.2021”, had explained one of the spokesperson of the Commission. “With regard to replacement vessels and the waters of Guernsey, the work is continuing to find a solution by the end of the month,” he said.
France has shown and asked the Commission to be “more active” to settle this litigation. “The space for dialogue must have a deadline and deadline the Commission must give it to the United Kingdom,” said Fisheries Minister Annick Girardin.
France claims more fishing licenses in London and Jersey’s Anglo-Norman Island as part of the Post-Brexit Agreement signed at the end of 2020. European fishermen can continue to work in British waters on condition to be able to prove that they had before. But French and British compete with the nature and extent of the proof to be provided.
In total, since January 1, 2021, France has obtained “more than 960 fishing licenses in the British waters and those of the Anglo-Norman Islands, but Paris even more than 150 authorizations, according to the French Ministry of the Sea. London estimates, for its part, having granted 98% of the requested licenses.