They were expected this month.
France, in conflict with the United Kingdom over post-Brexit fishing licenses, will soon announce retaliatory measures.
Some of them will come into force on Tuesday, November 2, unless British policy changes by then, government spokesman Gabriel Attal announced on Wednesday October 27.
A first series of national measures which will apply from the beginning of November has been defined and targets British products imported into France.
The government wants to put in place "systematic customs and sanitary controls on products landed in France, the ban on unloading seafood products in French ports and controls on trucks," said Gabriel Attal.
This Thursday, on CNews, Clément Beaune, the Secretary of State for European Affairs, also detailed what looms if Great Britain does not review its copy: "British ships that want to land their fishery products in our ports, it will be over, with some exceptions (…) We will have no tolerance, no complacency ”, he assured.
"British ships that want to unload their fishery products in our ports, it will be over, with some exceptions [...] We will have no tolerance, no complacency" insists Secretary of State for European Affairs Clément Beaune in # LaMatinale pic.twitter.com/5Oi5rqpkZE
- CNEWS (@CNEWS) October 28, 2021
The second series of measures should concern the energy supply of the Channel Islands of Jersey and Guernsey, carried out by France, according to the government spokesperson.
The detail must be "communicated in the next few hours or days".
“We will not let Britain wipe its feet on the post-Brexit deal that has been reached.
50% of the licenses to which we are entitled are missing and our patience is reaching its limits today, ”he insisted.
A lack of fishing licenses
The conflict over fishing rights between French and British fishermen after Brexit had taken a turn at the end of September when the British island of Jersey, near the French coast, announced the granting of 64 definitive licenses to French boats (against 169 requested by Paris) and the rejection of 75 cases.
The day before, London had granted only 12 additional authorizations in its waters, within the limit of 6 to 12 nautical miles from its coasts (against 87 requested).
A decision that had quite annoyed Paris.
“We have been chatting calmly, nicely for nine months.
That's enough !
", Clément Beaune, Secretary of State for European Affairs, was carried away on October 5 on Europe 1." We will not let ourselves be done ", had, at the time, promised the Minister.
The post-Brexit agreement, concluded in extremis at the end of 2020 between London and Brussels, provides that European fishermen can continue to work in certain British waters provided they can prove that they were fishing there previously.
But the French and the British argue over the nature and extent of the supporting documents to be provided.