The UK and Jersey have hit out at France for making “disproportionate” threats after Paris warned it could cut off electricity to the island in a row over post-Brexit fishing rights.
Maritime minister Annick Girardin warned on Tuesday France was ready to take “retaliatory measures” after accusing the Channel Island of dragging its feet over issuing new licences to French boats.
The UK Government said the move was “clearly unacceptable” as efforts to resolve the row continued.
Jersey’s External Relations Minister, Ian Gorst, insisted that there was no justification for such severe measures.
The row came after the island implemented new requirements under the terms of the UK-EU trade deal for boats to submit evidence of their past fishing activities in order to receive a licence to carry on operating in Jersey waters.
The UK and Jersey have hit out at France for making “disproportionate” threats after Paris warned it could cut off electricity to the island in a row over post-Brexit fishing rights.
Maritime minister Annick Girardin warned on Tuesday France was ready to take “retaliatory measures” after accusing the Channel Island of dragging its feet over issuing new licences to French boats.
The UK Government said the move was “clearly unacceptable” as efforts to resolve the row continued.
Jersey’s External Relations Minister, Ian Gorst, insisted that there was no justification for such severe measures.
The row came after the island implemented new requirements under the terms of the UK-EU trade deal for boats to submit evidence of their past fishing activities in order to receive a licence to carry on operating in Jersey waters.
Jersey has accused France of making “disproportionate” threats after Paris warned it could cut off electricity to the island in a row over post-Brexit fishing rights.
Maritime minister Annick Girardin warned on Tuesday France was ready to take “retaliatory measures” after accusing the Channel Island of dragging its feet over issuing new licences to French boats.
However Jersey’s External Relations Minister, Senator Ian Gorst, insisted that there was no justification for such severe measures.
The row came after the island implemented new requirements under the terms of the UK-EU trade deal for boats to submit evidence of their past fishing activities in order to receive a licence to carry on operating in Jersey waters.
Jersey has accused France of making “disproportionate” threats after Paris warned it could cut off electricity to the island in a row over post-Brexit fishing rights.
Maritime minister Annick Girardin warned on Tuesday France was ready to take “retaliatory measures” after accusing the Channel Island of dragging its feet over issuing new licences to French boats.
However Jersey’s External Relations Minister, Senator Ian Gorst, insisted that there was no justification for such severe measures.
The row came after the island implemented new requirements under the terms of the UK-EU trade deal for boats to submit evidence of their past fishing activities in order to receive a licence to carry on operating in Jersey waters.
‘At least the Nazis kept the lights on’: UK blasts France for threat to cut off Jersey’s power
French ministers said they would cut off electricity to the Channel Island unless a row over Brexit fishing licences was resolved
5 May 2021 • 2:56pm
Jersey has found itself on the frontline of the latest UK-EU battle over fishing.
Credit: Prisma Bildagentur /Getty Images
Britain has attacked France for “unacceptable” threats to cut off Jersey’s electricity supplies in a row over Brexit fishing rights with government sources warning that not even the Channel Island’s Nazi occupiers sank so low.
Annick Giradin, the French maritime minister, said on Tuesday that Paris could shut down three undersea cables that provide Jersey with 95 percent of its electricity if the dispute over fishing licences in its waters were not resolved.