Paris, Oct 8 (AFP/APP):France could reduce, but not entirely cut electricity supplies to the British crown dependency of Jersey this winter as part of “targeted” retaliation measures in a dispute over fishing, its Europe Minister said on Friday.
“Reducing supplies (of electricity to Jersey) is possible, but cutting the power to every Jersey resident this winter is something that will not happen and something that I do not want,” Europe Minister Clement Beaune told BFM-TV in an interview.
Britain has refused to grant all the fishing licences sought by French boats as part of a post-Brexit access deal, leaving Paris furious and fishermen worried for their livelihoods.
Beaune had previously floated the idea of cutting power to the the British crown dependencies of the Channel Islands like Jersey which rely on nearby France for their energy.
A sequence of statements from Paris indicated that French patience on the issue had run out as bilateral disagreements on a host of issues seem to spiral out of control.
Beaune, seen as a close ally of President Emmanuel Macron, urged Britain to stop penalising French fishermen for its domestic problems after Brexit.
“Stop telling us you do not need us anymore, stop being obsessed with us, stop believing that we will solve your problems,” he said.
“They made a mess of Brexit. It’s their choice and their failure, not ours. It was a bad choice, we see that today.
“It is not by creating problems for our fishermen… that you will solve the problems of shortages of Christmas turkey,” he said.
EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier had “negotiated the fact that we have an energy export deal, which means we can regulate the flows”, Beaune said, calling that option “a political possibility”.
But he added: “I hope it doesn’t come to that.”
The minister said France had asked for 450 fishing licences but had only received 275. “We’re 40 percent short, but we insist on those 450,” he said.
“Britons need us to sell their products, including from fishing, they need us for their energy, for their financial services and for their research centres,” Beaune said.
“All of this gives us pressure points. We have the means to modulate the degree of our cooperation, to reduce it, if Britain does not implement the agreement,” he said.
“If they don’t do their share, then we won’t do 100 percent of our share either.”
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