France has postponed a deadline it had given U.K. authorities to secure fishing licenses for small vessels. Emmanuel Macron on Monday evening said Paris would not move forward with retaliatory measures against Britain, while his EU Affairs Minister Clément Beaune said France had received the “first signals from the U.K. authorities to speed up” talks on a solution.
The two countries have conflicting interpretations of the Brexit trade deal. The agreement states French fishers are allowed to continue to operate in the Channel Islands’ waters as long as they can show they fished there before Brexit, but does not specify how they prove this. The Brits argue some small boats should not qualify. Our POLITICO colleague Cristina Gallardo has the full details about why Britain and France can’t stop fighting about fish.
Beaune will speak with the U.K.’s Brexit Minister David Frost on Thursday in Paris. Beaune said “the measures announced and prepared by France will not be implemented before this meeting and the examination of the new British responses on fishing licences.”
Read more:
https://www.politico.eu/newsletter/brussels-playbook/eu-climate-bonds-farmers-in-cop-spotlight-brexit-fisheries-drama/