France seeks revenge on British submarine contract by imposing sanctions.
Following the controversy over the British-Australian military agreement with the United States and Australia in the Indo-Pacific, which led to the cancellation of Canberra’s purchase of a submarine from France, it is now said that Paris is seeking a boycott of London.
A French government spokesman said Wednesday evening that Paris would announce possible sanctions on energy and trade prices by the end of the week over fisheries disputes with Britain.
According to AFP, Paris is outraged by Britain’s decision last month on the island of Georgia to deny licenses to dozens of French fishing boats in its territorial waters, calling it unacceptable.
“Obviously we are in a position to impose sanctions if we do not comply with the agreement,” said Gabriel Atal, a spokesman for the French government. Several types of sanctions are possible; “Energy prices, access to ports (France), tariff issues.”
Atal said the sanctions would take effect in November if no agreement was reached with Britain on Jersey Island.
France also called on its partners in the European Union to work together on the conflict and called on the 27 members to take countermeasures.
A senior Paris official declined to say whether President Emmanuel Macron would discuss the issue with his counterparts at the EU summit in Brussels on Thursday and Friday, AFP reported.
Earlier, the French government said it was considering options for countering, such as London’s move to block the entry of French fishing boats, saying Britain was playing a political game with post-election rights. (More details)
Fishing and controlling British waters was one of the hot topics in the 2016 British referendum to leave the EU. But British fishermen have since accused the London government of selling them for financial gain by allowing European boats to fish in their territorial waters.
About a month ago, Australia announced that under a new treaty it had signed with Britain and the United States, it would cancel orders for conventional submarines from France and build at least eight nuclear submarines with the help of the two countries’ technologies.
