Paris May Ask European Commission to Launch Legal Proceedings Against UK Over Fishing Row

PARIS (Sputnik) - France will ask the European Commission to initiate legal proceedings against the United Kingdom if London does not change its position in the dispute over fishing licenses, French Secretary of State Clement Beaune said on Friday.

"If they [the British] maintain their position, we will ask the European Commission this weekend to announce a legal procedure against the British. This is a legal procedure that the European Commission did not want to resort to till the last. But we will ask to start this procedure, which means, that all Europeans recognize that the British do not respect the agreement and will demand that it be respected," Beaune told the Franceinfo broadcaster.

Late last month, France set 10 December as the final deadline for the settlement of the fisheries dispute after which Beaune said it would quit the talks.

Paris-London negotiations on fishery rights have so far seen no breakthrough, with France accusing the UK of refusal to issue enough licenses allowing French fishermen to enter the British waters. London has denied the allegation.

In early November, France announced a new set of sanctions against the UK following the detention of a British boat in the French waters in late October but then postponed their implementation in the wake of the renewed negotiations on the matter.