France vows not to ‘abandon’ fishermen in UK dispute

PARIS, 20 November 2021, (TON): French President Emmanuel Macron insisted Friday that he would not “abandon” fishermen demanding post-Brexit licences for waters off the Channel island of Jersey, escalating a battle of words that could spiral into a trade war.

Macron told journalists during a visit to northern France “we are going to continue to fight, we will not abandon our fishermen.”

He called on the European Commission to step up its efforts to pressure Jersey, a British crown dependency, to honour what France says are the terms of the post-Brexit trade accord with the bloc.

Macron said “the Commission must protect us. It has to see this through, but it’s moving too slowly, too weakly.”

He added that if the Commission doesn’t play its part, France will do it.

“I refuse returning to a bilateral discussion,” he added, because “this isn’t a question for France and the British, but a question of respecting your word.”

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