France to Keep Sanction Threats at Bay Amid Fishing Row With UK

Since the United Kingdom decided to exit the European Union, London and Paris have been engaged in a dispute over fishing rights. Most recently, the squabbles over access to fishing waters resulted in France seizing a British trawler that it claimed did not have a necessary license to fish in French territorial waters.

France decided to hold off on its threats to sanction the United Kingdom over the fishing row between the two countries, a spokesperson for UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Thursday.

"The French government have been clear they are not looking to proceed with those threats [...] in the coming days", Johnson's spokesman said. "They have made that clear to us [...] I think both sides are keen to have further discussions."

The comments come amid talks held between French European Affairs Minister Clement Beaune and British Brexit Minister David Frost in Paris on Thursday with the goal to find ways to resolve the fishing rights dispute. While the sides failed to come to a final agreement on the issue, both London and Paris agreed to continue the dialogue.

The French side revealed it still had "significant disagreements" with the United Kingdom, but wants to "give a chance" to dialogue, even though "all the options are open and all the options are possible".

"We are happy the French government withdrew its threats on Monday, that has created space for these discussions", Frost said ahead of the Paris talks.

Earlier, Paris threatened that it would slap sanctions on London because of the UK's alleged refusal to issue fishing licences to French fishermen seeking access to British territorial waters. Britain's PM Johnson dubbed the threats as "unjustified" and incompatible with the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement.

Last year, the two countries agreed that European fishing vessels can continue to operate in UK waters given that they prove they had done so in the past. However, Paris argued that dozens of its fishing boats had their requests to fish in the British waters denied.

In the latest escalation of the French-British fishing row, Paris seized British trawler the Cornelis Gert Jan, claiming that it was not properly licensed to operate in French territorial waters. The UK condemned the seizure as "disappointing" and insisted that the trawler had the necessary license.

Tensions eased on Wednesday when the Cornelis Gert Jan received permission to leave the northern French port of Le Havre, where it had been kept for about a week.