By the end of the week, French fishermen will be able to find the waters of the Channel Island of Guernsey, Secretary of State for European Affairs Amélie de Montchalin announced on Tuesday. This area had been closed to them since Saturday, the day of entry into force of Brexit.
"I think that by the end of the week, if we work as we were told, things will get back to normal," the secretary of state told AFP. She made the statement on the sidelines of a visit to a fishmonger's business in the agglomeration of Caen, where employees are showing their concern because of Brexit and the suspension of access to Guernsey. "We have a diplomatic agreement. We have received a formal letter from Her Majesty the Crown (…) We have a political agreement (…) Now, we are in the process of implementing it. For example, we will ask for international registrations from fishermen who sometimes do not have them. There are small administrative procedures, "said the Secretary of State, accompanied by government spokesperson Sibeth Ndiaye.
A list of authorized boats
The European Commission "has validated a list of boats" who want to fish in Guernsey and "we have an agreement with Guernsey so that they do not take money, whether at no cost", also said Amélie de Montchalin who s 'was previously made in Port-en-Bessin (Calvados). "This is a subject where there has been general mobilization, Didier Guillaume [Minister of Agriculture], the Prime Minister, the President", she added.
Monday in Brussels, "I alerted the commissioners to the fact that this is a subject which was not at all symbolic, which was key to confidence in future negotiations". For fishermen, it is important "that we do not create a precedent by restricting a small area in the middle of the Channel for diplomatic reasons", she added. According to the president of the Normandy regional fisheries committee, Dimitri Rogoff, "around fifty Norman boats and over a hundred Breton boats are more or less dependent" on Guernsey waters.
According to the Breton fisheries committee, there are “a hundred or so” in all in the two regions. The government announced on Saturday that the Guernsey authorities had "temporarily suspended" access by French fishing vessels to the waters of the Channel Island. Guernsey has "a very special status," which falls under the British crown and not the British government, said the minister.
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