This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. Clement Beaune, Europe Affairs Minister, has reiterated his threats to the UK because of the pressure France put on the UK to get the licences. He said that we made very clear, very firm threats. They were ready to go. That was in November. We have had a number of licenses. We have had over 80 licenses in the last few days. In November of last year, we had around 60 percent of the licenses we were entitled to. It was not because of the holy spirit or the good will of Boris Johnson.
It happened because France told the UK very strongly, publicly and behind the scenes, to stop, to negotiate, to unblock the negotiations. We had 93 percent of licenses, which is an important number. We were very far from that a few weeks ago. There are still a few dozen to go. What do you think about Annick Girardin, the fishermen and the European Commission? We will not forget about those few dozen licences. We are analysing the last mile of the negotiations with the sector. We will decide the last stage of this strategy of pressure and dialogue by Wednesday. Britain issued 18 licences for EU replacement vessels in UK territorial waters and five licences for EU vessels to access Jersey waters, Britain and the European Commission said. On Monday, there are about seven more licences that are expected to be completed, according to statements from London and Brussels. The UK Government said that they have licensed vessels where sufficient evidence has been provided that a vessel qualifies for access DON'T MISS:
Verhofstadt has been accused of being obsessed by the UK as he takes dig at Leavers REACTION Boris brutally mocked while delivering vital booster jab speech VIDEO: French fishermen plot major blockades over Christmas ANALYSIS Where that evidence has not been provided, licences have not been issued. France said that 1,034 or 93 percent of French licence requests had been secured because of the new British licences. In a joint statement, Beaune and Seas Minister Annick Girardin said France and the EU were looking into all possible legal avenues to secure the remaining licences and produce evidence that Britain had agreed to review. When Britain left the bloc, the licensing system was set up by Britain and the EU to allow fishing vessels access to each other's waters.