Pointer – outside – the standing ball between London and Paris

Downing Street ad on Wednesday night

A spokesman for the prime minister’s office in London said Britain “would not expect this from a close ally and partner”. According to a statement from the British government, the measures threatened by Paris do not appear to be compatible with the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) between the UK and the European Union or more broadly with international law.

A Downing Street spokesman said that if the French government responded to these threats, a “appropriate and measured response” from the UK would follow.

As a prelude to London’s decision, Paris indicated that it may close some of its ports from British ships from next week, tighten controls on trade between the two countries and even restrict energy supplies to the Channel Islands in the event of a dispute over British fishing licenses. For French fishing vessels are not settled.

France was angry that the British authorities had rejected the applications of 31 French fishing vessels that had applied for a fishing license in British territorial waters and in the maritime areas around Jersey. According to the reasons for the refusal, the French ships could not prove their entitlement.

The Jersey municipality introduced a new fishing licensing system back in the spring, citing the TCA. On this basis, French fishing vessels can obtain a fishing license in the area if they can prove that they have been active in the waters around Jersey in the past.

Jersey, with a population of 22,000 and located 22 kilometers off the coast of Normandy, is a vast autonomy, not part of the United Kingdom but a Crown Dependency.

Jersey receives 95 percent of its electricity from France on three submarine cables, so it would be very sensitive if Paris were to actually limit its power supply as part of the sanctions envisaged.

For reasons similar to the present ones, a situation of conflict broke out in the spring between Britain and France.

In early May, a sixty French fishing boat sailed to the sea entrance to Jersey’s capital and largest port, Saint Helier, but the port was not eventually closed.

Both the British and French governments sent two naval patrol ships to the flotilla’s marching site to “monitor the situation,” but the warships did not intervene, and the French trawlers marching to the island’s port eventually departed without incident.

This was the first rule of law dispute between Britain and an EU member state in which an armed force of two warships arrived at the site solely for patrol and observation purposes.

(Cover photo: French and Dutch fishing vessels off the coast of northern France. Photo: Pascal Rossignol/Reuters)