French fishermen threatening to block the port of Calais
by Richard Lough
PARIS (Reuters) – French fishermen have threatened to blockade the port of Calais and the Channel Tunnel if the British government does not grant them additional licenses within the next 17 days.
Olivier Leprêtre, trawler boss and chairman of the Hauts-de-France Regional Maritime Fisheries Committee, told Reuters that measures were imminent by fishermen “especially for import and export products”, while adding that the Minister of the Sea, Annick Girardin, had asked them to postpone their decision in order to continue negotiations with London.
“So there is an ultimatum of a few more days. Two weeks from this Saturday,” added Olivier Leprêtre.
France accuses Boris Johnson’s government of not respecting its commitments made under the agreements on the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union and insufficient the number of licenses deemed for the moment to French fishermen in British waters .
The European Commission, urged by Prime Minister Jean Castex to “move more” on the file, said on Wednesday that discussions were underway.
Olivier Leprêtre said he expected, in the absence of a reaction from London, acts of coordinated reprisals on the part of French fishermen “on the entire Channel coast, including Normandy”.
“It’s still a work of preparation and coordination. It doesn’t happen overnight,” he said.
Asked about the case on Tuesday during current affairs issues in the National Assembly, Jean Castex mentioned, in the event of a persistent blockage of discussions, a possible questioning of cooperation agreements between Paris and London.
(Report Richard Lough, version française Jean-Stéphane Brosse, edited by Jean-Michel Bélot)
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