Original title: British and French fisheries tore their faces, “Brexit” problem is endless
The fight for fishing rights between the UK and France is raging, and even the leaders of the two countries at the G20 summit are a little bit fierce. On this side, British Prime Minister Johnson “requests the EU to control Macron”. On the other side, Macron, the French president, is not to be outdone and requires the United Kingdom to “respect the rules.” In the past, good brothers turned their backs on each other. The fishery issue is just one side. Although the UK has “Brexit”, too many issues are still unclear. In the future, the contradiction may not only be between Britain and France, nor will it. Only in the fishing industry.
Stubbornly
After arguing for several days, Britain and France still did not plan to step back. On October 31, local time, during the G20 summit, Johnson and Macron had a one-on-one meeting without assistants, which lasted about half an hour.
However, this meeting failed to give a clear outcome to the fisheries dispute. After the meeting, the French President’s Office issued a statement expressing optimism that the two countries would resolve the conflict, stating that the French and British leaders agreed to take “practical measures” in the coming days to resolve the fishing rights dispute. According to Reuters, citing French officials, Macron told Johnson that he expects mutual respect between the two sides. After this meeting, the two sides will continue to exchange views and find a way to cool the dispute.
However, the attitude of the British government is different. Johnson’s spokesperson denied the French statement and told reporters that if the relationship between the two countries is to be eased, the French side should take the lead. Threats…this is their business. If they want to cool down the threats they make, we certainly welcome it.”
The spokesperson also said that during the meeting with Macron, the prime task of the British Prime Minister was to persuade the European Union to amend the “Northern Ireland Protocol”, which is a key content of the British “Brexit” agreement.
“Johnson asked the European Union to control Macron,” the British “Daily Telegraph” stated that just one day before the meeting between the leaders of Britain and France, Johnson accused Macron of participating in threats against the United Kingdom. Johnson also filed a complaint with European Commission President von der Lein, complaining about Paris’s “completely unreasonable” threat on the issue of fishing licenses, and warned that Britain might take the first trade dispute settlement action after “Brexit” for this.
Macron also made a harsh statement. He said: “We have handed over a document to the British Prime Minister explaining how to resolve the dispute. It is currently awaiting a response from the British side.” Macron also warned that France has prepared the first batch of retaliatory measures. It will be implemented on November 2nd.
Macron was referring to a series of measures announced by France on October 27, including prohibiting British fishing boats from entering and leaving some important ports, and conducting strict inspections on British cross-sea trade commodities.
Escalation of contradictions
Britain and France have a long history of grievances on fisheries issues, but the conflicts have continued to escalate in the past few days. On January 1 this year, the relevant trade agreement after the UK’s “Brexit” came into effect. According to this agreement, fishermen from EU countries can obtain fishing permits and enter British waters to fish. However, both sides have their own opinions on the passing rate of fishing permits.
According to data released by the French Ministry of Maritime Affairs at the end of September, of the 175 fishing permit applications submitted by French fishermen to the British government, 75 applications have not yet been approved; of the 211 applications submitted to the British Jersey, 105 applications have not yet been approved. Approved; British Guernsey only issued 64 temporary fishing permits to French fishing vessels.
But the UK denies this claim, insisting that it has approved 98% of EU vessels’ permit applications for fishing in British waters.
More than that, the British Jersey government introduced a new fishing license system in April this year, requiring French fishing vessels to provide fishing data in this sea area from early 2017 to early 2020. France believes that this provision violates the “Brexit” agreement. French fishermen once protested in the waters near Jersey for this, which triggered a confrontation between British and French warships.
Against this background, on October 27, France could not bear it. Spokesperson Gabriel Attar said: “Our patience is limited, and the United Kingdom will never be allowed to use the’Brexit’ agreement to’shine soles’.” He also warned that retaliatory measures will be officially taken on November 2.
In addition, France is still preparing a second round of sanctions and does not rule out reconsidering the power supply to Britain. It is worth mentioning that compared to the British island, British Jersey is much closer to France, and its power supply relies on submarine cables connected to France. Although the United Kingdom has said that it will fully support Jersey, but France really takes action, the island’s industry will undoubtedly be impacted.
On the same day, the French maritime police also imposed penalties on two British fishing boats. One of the fishing boats was punished for obstructing inspection; the other fishing boat has been detained in the northern French port of Le Havre because it did not have a fishing permit in French waters. The captain of the fishing boat may face criminal prosecution.
Britain also immediately fought back. On October 28, Britain summoned the French ambassador to the United Kingdom, Catelyn Colonna, and asked for an explanation on the French threat to take countermeasures against Britain. This was the first time that Britain summoned the French ambassador to Britain in decades.
“Brexit” sequelae
According to Yang Chengyu, a PhD from the Institute of European Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, disputes concerning fisheries, on the one hand, have existed for a long time between Britain and France, and are historical contradictions left over, especially in the core area of fisheries. Another point is that in the context of the “Brexit” of the United Kingdom, many areas that are adjacent to the United Kingdom and have close trade relations belong to France. For example, the Port of Calais in France. Tariff barriers will directly cause some industries in France. Impact, such as the logistics industry.
Yang Chengyu pointed out that in fact, from the perspective of economic scale, whether it is in the UK or France, the total proportion of fishery is not too large. The competition between the two countries on the fishery issue is not only a game of economic interests, but also a symbolic one. The game between cultural and social levels. Britain’s “Brexit” means leaving the EU’s single market, and both trade commodities and industrial layout will face a reshuffle. Typical examples are fisheries and financial industries. The EU is also attracting the financial industry to settle down. For example, Paris has begun to focus on building an international financial center.
Indeed, it is not just fishing rights and financial services. In the field of new crown vaccines, there have been constant frictions between the two sides, and contradictions surrounding the trade issue in Northern Ireland also persist. On October 26, the European Commission’s negotiating team went to London, England, to have “a few days of in-depth discussions” with the United Kingdom.
The focus of the conflict this time is the “Northern Ireland Protocol”, which is part of the “Brexit” agreement reached between the United Kingdom and the European Union. This document implements special arrangements to allow Northern Ireland to actually remain in the EU Customs Union and the European Single Market. , To avoid setting up a “hard border” between Northern Ireland and Ireland. In this case, goods shipped from the UK to Northern Ireland must be inspected to prevent risky goods from entering the EU member state Ireland.
It was the border inspection procedures and other issues that the two sides could not dispute. Johnson even stressed that unless the Northern Ireland trade dispute is resolved, the United Kingdom will withdraw from part of the “Brexit” agreement signed with the European Union.
Yang Chengyu also said that although Britain and the EU have reached an agreement, there are still many unclear issues, including fisheries and border issues. Many issues require further negotiations between the UK and the EU. However, at the moment, both the UK and the EU have not focused their efforts on resolving the contradictions after Brexit, and more on the prevention and control of the epidemic, while the UK is still working on establishing a global trade network.
“The fishery is more like a fuse. In the future, some problems after the UK’s Brexit will be further amplified. It is not just a few industrial problems, but will involve some systemic problems such as politics, economy, and culture, and conflicts. The party will not be limited to Britain and France,” Yang Chengyu said frankly.
Beijing Commercial Daily reporter Tang Yitian
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