Diplomat to be given formal rebuke after British scallop trawler captain is detained for ‘unlicensed’ fishing
Source - Daily Telegraph 28/10/21
The French ambassador has been summoned to the Foreign Office for a formal rebuke after France detained a British scallop trawler in a dispute over fishing licences.
Catherine Colonna, France’s top diplomat in London, will be called in on Friday amid a rapidly escalating row with Paris over post-Brexit fishing rights.
Government sources said they believed it was the first time in decades that a French ambassador had been summoned by Britain, one of the nation’s closest allies.
It came as the skipper of the Cornelis Gert Jan - a trawler from Scotland - was questioned by police in Le Havre for five hours on Thursday and accused of fishing in French waters without a licence.
The boat was held in port while the skipper was interrogated and threatened with a €75,000 fine, despite the owner of the vessel insisting it had been operating legally.
The incident is the latest controversy to have occurred in recent days, amid mounting tensions between Paris and London over the number of fishing licences granted to French fishermen after Brexit.
The French government is now threatening retaliatory action, including raising tariffs on electricity supply to Jersey unless Britain grants more licences.
Clement Beaune, the country’s Europe minister, warned that the “language of force ... seems to be the only thing this British Government understands”.
Industry leaders have now called on ministers to protect the rights of British fishermen, claiming that the captain and crew of the Cornelis Gert Jan were being used as a “pawn in a political game” by Paris.
In response, Liz Truss, the Foreign Secretary, ordered the French ambassador to attend talks in London on Friday, stating that she would be expected to “explain the disappointing and disproportionate threats made against the UK and Channel Islands”.
The Telegraph has also learned that ministers were presented with a suite of retaliatory options should Paris press ahead with its threats, including restricting access to UK waters further.
Other measures contained in an “options paper”, drawn up by officials and presented at a Cabinet sub-committee chaired by Lord Frost, the Brexit minister, included stepping up checks on French boats landing in UK ports.
The document also proposed potential diplomatic moves to ratchet up pressure on Paris, including confronting Emmanuel Macron at this weekend’s G20 meeting in Rome and dispatching the UK ambassador in Paris.
Approached for comment, government sources did not deny the details but insisted that there was no scheduled meeting with Mr Macron in Italy and that any decisions on the options outlined would depend on how the French government proceeded.
Paris is furious that just 15 permits out of 47 applications have been granted to French fishermen to operate in Britain’s coastal waters. Its anger is also directed at Jersey, which it claims delivered less than half of the 216 permits it had requested.
In response, it has announced a series of sanctions it is planning to implement from next month unless the Government issues further permits granting access to UK waters for its fishermen.
It is also threatening to ramp up border checks on goods arriving from Britain, blocking access to British fishing boats to its ports, and is working on a second round of measures that could affect power supplies.
Responding on Thursday night, a government spokesman said: “The proposed French actions are unjustified and do not appear to be compatible on the EU’s part with the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) or wider international law.
"We regret the confrontational language that has been consistently used by the French government on this issue, which makes this situation no easier to resolve.
“We have raised our concerns strongly with both the French and the EU Commission. As a next step, the Foreign Secretary has instructed Minister [Wendy] Morton to summon the French Ambassador.
“We repeat that the Government has granted 98 per cent of licence applications from EU vessels to fish in the UK's waters and, as has consistently been made clear, will consider any further evidence on the remainder.”
Comments
Post a Comment