France and Great Britain are fighting over fishing licenses in the English Channel.
An impending escalation is averted in favor of a new round of talks.
But a solution is not yet in sight.
Paris - Despite new talks between France and Great Britain, there was apparently no breakthrough in the dispute over fishing licenses on Thursday.
After a meeting between British Brexit representative David Frost and French Secretary of State for Europe Clément Beaune in Paris, the government in London only announced that both sides had "presented their positions and concerns".
After the meeting in the evening, Beaune expressed herself cautiously optimistic in an interview with the TV broadcaster LCI.
His focus during the conversation was on the fishermen who have not been able to fish in British waters in the past few months.
These are small boats that could not have provided technical evidence that they had previously fished in the waters.
In addition, there are French fishermen who initially only received a provisional permit; France is seeking a permanent solution here.
Disputes
In the dispute over fishing licenses in the English Channel, which lies between the two countries, France accuses Great Britain of not adhering to the Brexit agreements and of refusing licenses to French fishermen, contrary to the agreement. London denies the allegations. It is about a few dozen boats that have not received a license due to a lack of documents. A French ultimatum with threatened punitive measures had Paris suspended due to ongoing talks on Monday.
According to the London communication, the meeting addressed "a number of problems arising from the implementation of the UK-EU agreements".
The dialogue should continue at the beginning of next week.
A meeting between Frost and EU Commission Vice-President Maros Sefcovic in Brussels is planned for Friday.
The main issue here is the dispute over the Brexit regulations for Northern Ireland.
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Just a few days ago, Paris had threatened the British government to close some ports to British fishermen and to tighten controls on British boats and trucks. London had described this as "disproportionate and inappropriate" and announced countermeasures. The threatening escalation with the expiring ultimatum on Tuesday was then averted by the new round of talks. Paris announced on Monday evening that it would waive sanctions for the time being.
It was unclear whether Great Britain had made concessions in return for the temporary withdrawal of the sanctions threats.
Frost told Sky News that no new licenses had been issued in the run-up to the meeting.
France's deputy Minister of Transport Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, on the other hand, spoke on the Europe 1 channel of 49 licenses that had been issued by London on Monday.
Beaune also spoke in the evening of around 50 licenses that had been issued at the beginning of the week.
dpa
