Fisheries, Northern Irish protocol: post-Brexit sticking points persist

Published on : 10/26/2021 – 02:26

The contours of post-Brexit continue to be debated over Northern Ireland and fisheries. Regarding the latter subject, France is preparing to announce retaliatory measures against London and the Channel Islands, judging that the number of licenses granted to French fishermen remains insufficient, reported Monday, October 25 a government source, which specifies that the Minister of the Sea, Annick Girardin, is due to meet with the Prime Minister on Tuesday morning.

Jean Castex, who at the beginning of October asked his entire government to work on possible retaliatory measures, should make his arbitrations in this explosive matter.

“The British have resumed negotiations and released some additional licenses. But we are not at all at the cost,” said the French side, pleading for “concrete, proportionate and reversible” retaliatory measures.

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France has not disclosed the nature of the envisaged sanctions, but has repeatedly threatened to reduce its deliveries of electricity to Jersey or to take action in the financial services or research sector. Symbolically, one of the first measures could concern fishermen, with a reduction in the number of landing ports in France for British boats.

Open discussions for Guernsey and UK waters

The post-Brexit agreement, concluded in extremis at the end of 2020 between London and Brussels, provides that European fishermen can continue to work in certain British waters provided they can prove that they were fishing there previously.

But the French and the British argue over the nature and extent of the supporting documents to be provided. In the still disputed fishing zones (6-12 miles from the British coasts and the Channel Islands), London and Jersey have thus granted a total of just over 200 definitive licenses, while Paris is still claiming 244.

The Minister of the Sea explained, in mid-October, that she wanted a comprehensive solution by the 1^er November, since the island of Jersey gave a period of one month (until October 30) to some 70 French boats to provide new information and reopen their case. As these vessels are currently on the red list, they will no longer be able to spawn in Jersey waters from 1^er November.

The cleaver of 1^er November only concerns Jersey. The situation is a little different for Guernsey and British waters, where discussions remain open.

Northern Ireland: London sticks to its position

On a completely different post-Brexit subject, the debate continues. London affirmed on Monday its desire to end the role of European justice in the resolution of post-Brexit disputes over Northern Ireland, ruling out any relaxation of its position on the subject of disagreement with Brussels.

Before new discussions which begin Tuesday in London on the subject of the maligned Northern Irish protocol, the British Secretary of State in charge of Brexit David Frost insisted on the need to find “balanced” arbitration mechanisms. “We cannot have the courts of one of the parties to settle disputes between us,” he told a parliamentary committee.

Intended both to protect the European market and to prevent the reestablishment of a physical border on the island of Ireland which would risk undermining the peace, the Northern Irish protocol negotiated within the framework of Brexit de facto maintains Ireland of the North in the European customs union and single market.

The United Kingdom wants to see the establishment of an international arbitration to enforce the laws of the single market in Northern Ireland, instead of the European Court of Justice (CJEU).

After the latest discussions, the Times and the Financial Times recently affirmed that London would agree to compromise on a solution comparable to that which is at work between Switzerland and the European Union (EU), with an arbitration which would maintain a role for European justice.

The EU stresses that the CJEU must remain the ultimate arbiter of its single market, but has recently made proposals to try to find a compromise. Brussels has proposed to significantly reduce phytosanitary checks and customs formalities for a wide range of goods intended for Northern Ireland’s only consumption and which will not enter the European single market.

The British Secretary of State recalled that in the absence of an agreement in the coming weeks, London would be ready to trigger Article 16, which unilaterally allows certain aspects of the protocol to be suspended in the event of major disruptions.

With AFP