UK-France fishing line deadline passes without agreement | Fishing industry

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An EU deadline for the UK to license dozens of French boats in a post-Brexit fishing line has passed without a deal being announced.

There had been suggestions on Friday that negotiations over fishing licenses for small French vessels in UK waters could lead to a breakthrough, but sources said no announcement was expected from the UK government as the date midnight limit came and went.

France had threatened to push the European Union to take legal action and trade restrictions against the UK if there was no “sign of goodwill” in the fisheries rank in time for it. Friday deadline set by Brussels.

The European Commission had said it expected the dispute to be resolved by midnight.

The main source of contention is the number of fishing licenses in the waters around the UK coasts for small French vessels which can prove they operated there before Brexit.

France says 104 of its ships still do not have licenses to operate in UK and Channel waters that should have been granted as part of a Brexit deal the UK signed with the European Union in December of last year.

The UK has previously denied any discrimination against French boats and said many ships are unable to provide the documents required to obtain a license.

“This is a technical process based on evidence rather than deadlines,” a UK government spokesperson said.

But the French Minister for Europe, Clément Beaune, raised the possibility that the United Kingdom grants “a few dozen more [licences] as a gesture of goodwill, ”which would mean talks could continue, and the European Commission said it hoped for a breakthrough later on Friday.

“If they stick to their guns, then we will ask the European Commission to file a complaint,” Beaune told Franceinfo radio on Friday.

“Legal proceedings do not only involve papers and courts, they are also measures, for example customs measures, that Europe can collectively take to tell the British in certain areas, ‘like you are breaking the law’ okay, some of your products are not recognized. ‘. “

UK Environment Secretary George Eustice met with EU Environment Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius on Friday.

“The intensive technical discussions over the past few days have been constructive, but they have not yet come to a conclusion,” said the British spokesperson.

“Our position remains that vessels must provide sufficient evidence of historical fishing activity in order to receive a license.”

Brussels said the dispute should be settled by December 10, but Downing Street said on Thursday it did not recognize the cut-off point.

“We never set a deadline. I recognize them [the EU] they themselves have defined one, but it is not the one we are working on, ”a spokesman for British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Thursday.

Beaune said the UK government’s comment was “surprising”, adding: “It is not really a sign of confidence”.

France and the UK have clashed several times this year over fishing as well as migrants crossing the Channel, post-Brexit trade deals and the sale of submarines to Australia.

“The problem with the British government is that it does not do what it says,” French President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday, accusing London of not having kept its word on Brexit and fishing licenses.

With the Association de la Presse and Agence France-Presse

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