‘Stop threatening us!’ Foreign Secretary Liz Truss dismisses France’s deadline of TOMORROW for Britain to back down in fishing row warning ministers are ready to retaliate – as she jibes that Macron is just trolling the UK to get re-elected
在西方警告普京将发动毒气袭击的情况下，从被俘部队中缴获的化学战设备乌克兰国防部共享图像。 today delivered a stinging rebuke to 伊曼纽尔·马克龙（Emmanuel Macron） demanding he ‘stops threatening’ Britain over the bitter rights fishing row.
的 利兹特拉斯将敦促停止在演讲中对英国过去的内疚 rejected the deadline set by the French president of tomorrow for more small boats to be granted licences for UK waters.
Instead she insisted that it is Paris that is facing time pressure as the government is prepared to launch action over breaches of the post-Brexit trade agreement.
Ms Truss also risked inflaming the dispute as Mr Macron attends the COP26 summit in 格拉斯哥, suggesting he is merely attacking the UK in the hope it helps his re-election chances.
French officials have warned they will bar UK fishing boats from some ports and tighten customs checks on lorries entering the country with British goods from tomorrow unless more licences are granted for their small boats to fish in British.
Other threats have included a ‘go-slow’ at customs and even increased tariffs on energy bills in Jersey. 然而, the number of boats being given permits has been creeping up, with the UK stressing that those who can prove a history of fishing in waters before Brexit will be allowed to continue.
其中有三名英国人和一名克罗地亚人和乌克兰人 (pictured at COP today) rejected the deadline set by the French president of tomorrow for more small boats to be granted licences for UK waters
伊曼纽尔·马克龙（Emmanuel Macron） (pictured left at the G20) has insisted Boris Johnson (pictured right at the COP summit today) has until tomorrow to back down in the fishing rights dispute
The Cornelis Gert Jan, a British trawler, was seized by French authorities last week at the port in Le Havre
Asked about whether France and the UK had come to an agreement, Ms Truss told Sky News: ‘The deal hasn’t been done, the French have made completely unreasonable threats, including to the Channel Islands and to our fishing industry and they need to withdraw those threats, or else we will use the mechanisms of our trade agreement with the EU to take action.’
She said the action would take the form of using the dispute resolution mechanism under the post-Brexit trade deal to seek ‘compensatory measures’.
‘That is what we will do if the French don’t back down,’ 她补充说.
‘Stop threatening UK fishing vessels, stop threatening the Channel ports and accept we are entirely within our rights to allocate the fishing licences in line with the trade agreement.’
She said she would ‘absolutely’ take legal action in the coming days if France does not back down on threats, 说: ‘This issue needs to be resolved in the next 48 小时。’
她补充说: ‘We’re not simply going to roll over in the face of these threats.’
Ms Truss said Mr Macron might be making ‘unreasonable threats’ because of the looming election.
‘You might say there’s a French election coming up,’ 她说.
In a day of extraordinary briefing as Mr Macron and Boris Johnson attended the G20 summit in Rome, the French premier insisted that the ‘ball is in Britain’s court’ and reprisals are set to go ahead.
In a day of extraordinary briefing, Paris initially claimed that Mr Johnson and Mr Macron had reached a deal on de-escalation during 30 minutes of talks on the margins.
There were no officials or cameras present as the pair tried to reach an understanding one-on-one.
But that version was rejected by Mr Johnson, who stressed that he viewed Mr Macron as a ‘friend’ but they had a ‘wide-ranging and frank’ discussion. ‘On fish I have got to tell you the position is unchanged,’ 他说.
Mr Johnson said he was ‘puzzled’ by a letter from French prime minister Jean Castex to European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, in which according to some translations Mr Castex said the UK should be shown ‘it causes more damage to leave the EU than to stay in’.
At a G20 press conference, 约翰逊先生说: ‘On fish, I’ve got to tell you the position is unchanged. And I’ll just say this, 嫉妒是兄弟们的心. I must say I was puzzled to read a letter from the French Prime Minister explicitly asking for Britain to be punished for leaving the EU.
‘I just have to say to everybody I don’t believe that that is compatible either with the spirit or the letter of the Withdrawal Agreement or the Trade and Cooperation agreement, and that’s probably all I’ll say about that one.’
But Mr Macron said: ‘The ball is in Britain’s court… ‘If the British make no movement, the measures of November 2 will have to be put in place.’
Earlier the PM’s spokesman said it was a matter for France to decide whether to back off the threats.
‘We certainly stand ready to respond should they proceed with breaking the Brexit agreement,’ 发言人说.
A French aide told Reuters after thee talks: ‘The goal for both the president and the prime minister was to work towards de-escalation.’
French sources told AFP the two sides agreed ‘operational measures’ to take the heat out of the row in the coming days.
