The French president has demanded tough action against the UK over post-Brexit fishing rights. However, the EU has watered down Mr Macron’s call for action against the UK. Fishermen have protested after Jersey only granted licenses to 12 French fishing vessels out of 47 applications this summer.
The snub to the French fishermen caused Mr Macron to demand retaliation from the EU.
But, EU members decided not to support Mr Macron’s bid to get states to sign up on immediate retaliation against the UK after Jersey
Speaking to the Daily Mail, a French fisherman from the northern Channel town of Boulogne said there could be blockades in ports like Calais and Boulogne.
Fisherman Pierre-Yves Dachicourt said: “We were promised to be able to go fishing in English waters.
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“We can’t live like that.”
Because of the looming French presidential elections, Mr Macron must show he has the resolve to be tough in post-Brexit fishing negotiations.
This Summer’s dispute over fishing licences has led both France and Britain to send patrol vessels off the shores of Jersey.
The Channel Islands are self-governing British Crown Dependencies.
Concerning the fishing dispute, Jersey’s external relations minister Ian Gorst said the island’s government had taken “a pragmatic, reasonable and evidence-based approach” to the issue.
In May 2021 French fishermen held a protest in the sea off the island of Jersey.
The UK sent two naval patrol boats to Jersey in response to the fishermen’s threats to blockade it.
The crisis then escalated when French politicians suggested that Jersey’s electricity supply fed by undersea cables from France could be cut off.
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