World

France threatens to cut power to Jersey amid fishing row

May 5, 2021 10:25 am

Tensions with the UK have made Channel waters choppier for French trawlers. [Source: BBC]

The French government has warned it could cut electricity to Jersey amid an escalating row over post-Brexit fishing rights.

Maritime Minister Annick Girardin told the French parliament that new rules governing access to Channel Islands waters were unacceptable.

She said France was “ready to use… retaliatory measures” under the UK-EU post-Brexit trade deal.

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Jersey, the largest of the Channel Islands, receives 95% of its electricity through three underwater cables from France.

In a statement to AFP news agency, the French fisheries ministry said the UK had introduced “new technical measures” linked to licences for fishing off the Channel Islands which had not been communicated to the EU and were therefore “null and void”.