Aurélien Antoine is a university professor, director of the Brexit Observatory and author of
The Brexit: An English History published by Dalloz.
FIGAROVOX. - French fishermen have decided to carry out blocking actions in several ports this Friday, November 26 for the granting of post-Brexit fishing licenses. What are the stakes for French fishermen?
Aurélien ANTOINE. -
Their motivation is quite simply to be able to fish as before and thus continue their profession.
To do this, they are asking for the fishing licenses they had before Brexit.
The trade and cooperation agreement provided for licenses to be kept conditionally, but unfortunately this is not the case for some.
If this blockade affects trade and if France does nothing, the UK will be able to consider that there is a violation of trade rules and be entitled to blame the French government.
Aurelien Antoine
For the small trawlers who fish on the outskirts of Guernsey and Jersey, not having a license forces them to stop their trade or to fish elsewhere.
This second solution requires costs because they will therefore be dependent on other fishing areas.
Therefore, they are not happy with this situation.
The British government has ordered France to "ensure that illegal acts are not committed and that trade is not affected". Should the French government act against its own fishermen as demanded by the British?
What the British remember is important.
If this blockade affects trade and if France does nothing, the UK will be able to consider that there is a violation of trade rules and be entitled to blame the French government.
Can these blocking actions bend the British?
It is not only the British who are involved, but the whole chain of proceedings.
The granting of licenses goes through a relatively long procedure which is not direct between Paris and London.
These procedures must go through Brussels but also through Jersey and Guernsey, which have an autonomous administration.
All this creates a certain length of proceedings.
Read also Post-Brexit licenses: end of the fishermen's movement on the French coast
In addition, when a boat goes fishing, it always has a register in which it certifies the state of its fishing. These are the documents that are requested by the British administration. It is therefore possible that some trawlers were not rigorous in keeping their logbooks. They may have lost or damaged papers. This refusal to grant licenses can therefore potentially involve things as futile as a loss of document.
The only means of action available to the British is to speed up the processing of files in its administration.
However, in view of what the British administration has granted as a license, it is difficult to see it as bad will.
Why would it refuse to grant a license to a few small French fishermen when it accepted it for lots of others who have provided very clear proof that they had sufficient fishing activity and fulfilled the criteria?
The United Kingdom's discourse on this subject is not inconsistent and rather respectful of the law.
Aurelien Antoine
As such, it is interesting to hear, in the discourse of fishermen, criticisms made in Paris or Brussels.
They consider that the EU does not defend them enough and neither does Paris.
This is quite logical because the United Kingdom's discourse on this subject is not inconsistent and rather respectful of the law, which, moreover, is not the case on the other Brexit files.
Finally, the recent shipwreck of migrants off Calais is also complicating Franco-British relations.
It is shameful to see them blame each other on each other.
Can France count on the support of the EU?
It can count on political support.
For legal support, which would commit Brussels to take retaliatory measures, it should not be counted on.
Brussels will not accept this given the fact that the British have already issued 90% of the licenses.
It seems difficult to talk about bad faith or non-compliance with the trade and cooperation agreement because when you look at the British Ministry's website on the documents it requests, there is nothing inconsistent or very open to criticism.
Can we imagine a de-escalation of tensions? How? 'Or' What ?
France has already started, last week, to compensate fishermen.
This proves that, alongside the major political declarations, France has actually started to retreat.
Compensation is one of the solutions.
We must also work on retraining.
We can regret that this problem was not anticipated.
This stems from a perception on the continent that Brexit is a uniquely British problem while it is a European problem as well.
We could have anticipated the sectors affected by Brexit, and allowed support.
