The EU has set a deadline for the dispute to be resolved by December 10, as the UK and France continue to clash over fishing. After this date, French ministers will try to pressure other countries in the bloc to take punitive measures against the UK. The number of licenses to fish in waters around the British coastline for smaller French vessels that can prove they operated in those waters before the UK's departure is the main source of contention. In Jersey, French fishermen have been left frustrated by being denied licenses to work in the Channel Island's waters.
One fisherman in Jersey said in May that they hoped that Brexit would give the island more control over its waters. Louis Jackson, who owns The Fresh Fish Company in Jersey, said he was worried about the future of the fishing industry in Jersey. We have a golden opportunity to change things because of the UK's decision to leave and be on a more than even playing field. At the moment, everything is geared towards the French. In September, Jersey and France came to blows after 75 French fishing boats were denied access to the island's waters. The French government condemned the decisions by British and Jersey authorities to refuse to issue all licences requested by French fishermen.
Spokesman Gabriel Attal described them as totally unacceptable and inadmissible decisions that do not conform to the agreement that was signed in the framework of the Brexit In the months since that moment, the French Government has made a number of threats in the direction of Jersey. In October, France's Europe Minister Clement Beaune warned that the EU could hit Britain and Jersey's energy supply. He said, "We have an agreement negotiated by France, by Michel Barnier, and it should be applied 100 percent." In the next few days, I talked to my European counterparts about this subject yesterday, we will take measures at the European level or nationally to apply pressure on the United Kingdom. We do it nicely, and diplomatically, but when that doesn't work we take measures.