"We will continue to fight, we will not let go of our fishermen," President Emmanuel Macron assured Friday during a trip to northern France, urging the European Commission to act.

"I will receive fishermen from all the regions concerned once I have the feedback from the Commission", he then announced.

"And before Christmas, France will have taken a position," he added, adding that he did not want to "make it a subject of the French presidency" of the European Union which begins on January 1.

"There is no renunciation or retreat. We continue both negotiation and pressure. We are asking for the same number of licenses", between 150 and 200, had previously assured AFP the Secretary of State for European Affairs Clément Beaune.

France "keeps all options open if the dialogue" does not succeed, he said, referring to the various sanctions that Paris and the European Union (EU) could decide.

While Paris is struggling to obtain fishing rights, especially from the authorities of the Anglo-Norman island of Jersey, the Minister of the Sea Annick Girardin on Thursday evoked a compensation plan for fishermen who would lose their licenses for the waters British.

These remarks provoked the anger of professionals, seeing in them an implicit admission by France of its "defeat".

Several politicians have also expressed their anger in the midst of the presidential campaign, and while Franco-British relations are very tense on many subjects.

"Emmanuel Macron has capitulated" for the head of the National Rally Marine Le Pen.

"A shame", for the communist Fabien Roussel.

"Scandalous renunciation", "snub" ...: the candidates for the presidency jumped at the opportunity to criticize Emmanuel Macron, likely candidate for his succession.

The former Brexit negotiator and candidate for the right-wing investor Michel Barnier criticized the government's “renunciation”.

British sea areas Kenan AUGEARD AFP

Commission too soft?

"There was a communication error from Girardin and a misinterpretation of the fishermen," said Elvire Fabry, political scientist at the Jacques Delors European Institute.

For Jean-Luc Hall, the Director General of the French Fisheries Committee, it is also "rather a + timing error" which is criticized by some who fear that this will be interpreted as an admission of weakness by the United Kingdom ".

In London, the declaration of the French minister went completely unnoticed and did not provoke anti-French euphoria in the tabloid press.

"In my opinion, Girardin's message was to show that all the risks are planned so as not to let the fishermen think that there was a risk of + falling off the cliff +" in the event of failure of the negotiations, estimates Ms. Fabry.

But Emmanuel Macron also put pressure on the European Commission, which he accuses of not mobilizing enough.

It "must protect us. It's going too slowly, it's going too softly", regretted the French president, warning that if "the Commission does not play its role, France will do it".

"The process is too slow," admitted a Commission spokesperson, promising that London will be called for "an intensification of the process within a clearly defined deadline."

French Minister of the Sea Annick Girardin, at the Elysee Palace, November 17, 2021 Ludovic MARIN AFP

In Brussels, "we talk more about the Irish protocol (another point of friction between the EU and the United Kingdom, editor's note) than about the issue of fishing", notes Eric Maurice, head of the Brussels office of the Robert Foundation Schuman who considers that France is not isolated.

"Everyone is well aware in Brussels and in the Member States that it is a more general question of respect by the British of the Brexit agreements", he believes, "and everyone knows very well that we are facing a partner who does not necessarily respect his word ".

The fishermen want to keep the pressure on: "The time for action has come", warns the Fisheries Committee.

© 2021 AFP