France will not “allow itself to be bullied” in the dispute with the United Kingdom over fisheries licences in British waters, the French Minister of State for European Affairs, Clément Beaune, insisted on Tuesday 5 October, brandishing the threat of using energy as a weapon (see EUROPE 12802/3).
“In the coming days, we will take European or national measures to put pressure on the United Kingdom”, he said on EUROPE 1. He stressed that the UK is “dependent on our energy supply”. In May, the Minister of the Sea, Annick Girardin, had already hinted at possible repercussions on the “submarine cable electricity transport” that supplies the island of Jersey from France.
Jersey announced the granting of 64 definitive licences to French vessels (compared to 169 requested by Paris) and the rejection of 75 applications. London granted 12 additional permits in its waters (6 to 12 miles), compared to 87 requested.
“We don’t understand on what criteria a certain number of licences have been refused, when for the past nine months we have, with the Commission, provided data to the British”, a European source said on Tuesday 5 October.
The French Ministry of the Sea has published a work schedule (in French) (https://bit.ly/3Fgcj45 ) on this issue, including the meeting of European Fisheries Ministers to prepare “a list of European retaliatory measures”.
The announcement of the responses is promised for the second half of October. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur, with Damien Génicot)