France adheres to a "global approach" to post-Brexit agreements with the United Kingdom, French cabinet spokesman Gabriel Attal said on Wednesday, when commenting on a recent fishing dispute with London
PARIS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th May, 2021) France adheres to a "global approach" to post-Brexit agreements with the United Kingdom, French cabinet spokesman Gabriel Attal said on Wednesday, when commenting on a recent fishing dispute with London.
Earlier, Attal said that France may impose retaliatory measures against the UK as London failed to comply with the agreements on fishing rights, one of the stumbling blocks in the negotiations of the post-Brexit trade deal.
"There is an agreement that has been signed with the United Kingdom as part of Brexit on fisheries, particularly on access for French fishermen to British territorial waters so that they can continue to fish. The agreement was signed by the parties. What France is asking for is not improbable: we want it to be respected ... We have a global approach to the signed agreements to guarantee the fulfillment of the commitments made," Attal said at a briefing, when asked whether or not Paris demanded to delay the financial services deal with London over the dispute.
Notably, the agreement between Brussels and London on financial services was reached in March in a memorandum of understanding, establishing the rules for cooperation between financial regulators of both parties, as the UK's financial sector was cut off from the EU after London officially left the bloc on December 31, 2020.
The deal on financial services, which was not initially included in the whole trade agreement between the parties, is yet to be ratified by the EU member states, including France.
The tensions off Jersey island in the English Channel, where a flotilla of around 60 French fishing boats protested against the fishing quotas, flared up last week after France reportedly threatened to cut the electrical supply to Jersey, which, although a Crown dependency, is geographically closer to the French coast than the British. London responded by deploying patrol ships to the areas, prompting Paris to do the same.
The matter was resolved last Thursday, with vessels from both sides returning to their original destinations. Nonetheless, the French Foreign Ministry said it would continue to use all its leverage to preserve its fisheries in UK waters.
