British scallop trawler released as France backs down on immediate threats in fishing feud
A British scallop trawler detained in a French port has now been released as France backed down in a post-Brexit fishing feud with the UK.
Environment Secretary George Eustice told Sky News the impounded Cornelis Gert Jan, a Scottish-registered scallop dredger that had been detained by authorities in Le Havre, had now been released.
“I understand that vessel has now been released, and I think there’s going to need to be some further discussions, clearly there was an administrative error at some point,” he said.
Boris Johnson and Emmanuel Macron came face to face at the COP26 climate summit on Monday
“We haven’t quite got to the bottom of that, but that vessel I understand has been released.”
The captain of the vessel is reported to be an Irish citizen who has been told he faces a court hearing next August.
Mr Eustice also welcomed the fact that France had “stepped back” from threats of punitive action against the UK over the fishing dispute, which has seen Paris demand more licences for French vessels to fish in UK waters.
“We’ve always said we want to de-escalate this and always said we have an ever-open door to discuss any further evidence France or the EU might have on any additional vessels they’d like to have licensed,” he added.
“France has clearly taken a decision not to implement some of the decisions they threatened last Wednesday, we very much welcome that.
“But I think there’s going to be a very important meeting on Thursday between (Brexit minister) Lord Frost and his opposite number, not just on fisheries but a wider range of issues as well.”
France postpone sanctions over fishing row
French President Emmanuel Macron had warned that Paris could block UK boats from landing their catches and impose physical checks on lorries travelling to and from the UK – which had led to fears of long queues on either side of the Channel resulting in delayed shipments ahead of Christmas.
But on Monday evening, Downing Street said it welcomed an announcement from Paris that it would “not go ahead with implementing their proposed measures as planned tomorrow”, adding that the UK is “ready” to continue talks.
The statement from a UK government spokesperson continued: “The UK has set out its position clearly on these measures in recent days.
“As we have said consistently, we are ready to continue intensive discussions on fisheries, including considering any new evidence to support the remaining licence applications.
“We welcome France’s acknowledgement that in-depth discussions are needed to resolve the range of difficulties in the UK/EU relationship.
“Lord Frost has accepted (French Europe minister) Clement Beaune’s invitation and looks forward to the discussions in Paris on Thursday.”
Mr Macron had allegedly told reporters at the COP26 climate conference earlier on Monday that “discussions have resumed” on the basis of a proposal he made to Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
He is reported to have said that the UK government agreed to come back to the French government on Tuesday “with other proposals”.
Officials from the two nations have been involved in talks convened by the European Commission in Brussels.
A European Commission spokesperson said: “The meeting allowed to charter the way forward on several aspects, it was concluded to resume on Tuesday, to keep the positive dynamics of the discussions.
“Further meetings are planned for later in the week.”
Meanwhile, Mr Johnson and Mr Macron came face-to-face once more on Monday after both arriving in Glasgow.
Earlier on Monday, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss told Sky News she was setting a 48-hour deadline for the fishing dispute with France to be resolved.
After this point, the UK government would begin taking legal action, Ms Truss said, hitting out at the French for behaving “unfairly” and making “completely unreasonable” threats.
Shortly after her comments, Downing Street added that it had “robust” contingency plans in place if Mr Macron’s government carried out threats to disrupt trade from midnight.
PM ‘worried’ that treaty may have been broken on fishing
The UK has granted licences to 98% of EU vessels which have requested permission to operate in British waters.
But the dispute centres on access for small boats, under 12 metres, wishing to fish in the UK six to 12 nautical mile zone.
The government in Paris detained the British scallop trawler, as it was angry that the UK originally granted only 12 licences out of 47 bids for smaller vessels.
A total of 18 licences have now been granted.
Paris had previously said if the rules did not change by midnight on Tuesday, retaliatory measures would be launched.
May: Jersey blockaded in fishing row
Jersey‘s government, which is responsible for managing licences for French vessels to fish in the island’s waters, has since accused France of seeking to “bully” with the “completely unprecedented” threat to the island’s energy supply.
And the Crown Dependency called for an end to the “silliness” of “political rhetoric” and to “deal with the technical issues”.
Meanwhile, Labour’s shadow business secretary Ed Miliband also expressed his fears that French threats were being made “for domestic political reasons”.
“I don’t like the way the French have behaved in this at all – I actually agree with Liz Truss on this,” he told Sky News at the COP26 summit.