Why are France and Great Britain facing each other in the English Channel?

Two hundred years after the death of Napoleon, who ended his days as a prisoner of the British on the island of Saint Helena, the United Kingdom and France clash again.

Another island, Jersey, much closer to the two countries, is the protagonist. This Thursday, off its coasts, the Royal Navy and the French Navy deployed two units each, in a preventive way, while about fifty French fishing boats protested against the difficulties they put in fishing.

The Battle of Jersey is a sequel to Brexit. French fishermen complain that the authorities of this island are providing them with permits in a dropper (41 permits out of 344 applications) and that this situation will lead them to ruin.

For generations they have been fishing in the rich fishing grounds of the largest of the Channel Islands, just 22 kilometers off the coast of France.

Hostile dialogue

The protest failed to soften Jersey officials. The interview with a minister of the island did not give the expected results. French fishermen have chosen to withdraw from the port of Saint-Hélier, the capital of Jersey.

It will be the government of Paris and the European Commission itself which will negotiate with London.

A French Navy spokesperson said that sending two patrol boats was a simple precautionary maneuver, that they had no weapons on board and that they approached Jersey to protect the fishermen and rescue them in case one of them falls into the water. .

The reasons given by the Royal Navy were similar. This tone is essential among the NATO allies.

Escalation of tension

The bilateral dispute had turned sour in recent days. France, outraged by British misery, threat of severe retaliation, such as the total or partial cut-off of the electricity supply via an undersea cable which carries energy to the island from the French coast.

The submerged cable carries 90,000 volts and is 34 kilometers long. 95% of the electricity consumed in Jersey depends on this source of supply. The remaining 5% comes from diesel generators.

French Fisheries Minister Annick Girardin has justified possible retaliatory measures in the UK’s exit agreements from the European Union. Girardin wanted him not to have to go to this extreme, for the British to reconsider and honor “the good neighborly relations that France has maintained with Jersey for over 150 years”.

The British position

On the other side of the Channel, things are different. Conservative MP David Jones testified The Daily Telegraph that the French just want to make money by making threats, “and that is not how a democratic country should behave in the 21st century”.

One of Jersey’s eight senators, Ian Gorst, was optimistic about finding a compromise. According to him, the problem is bureaucratic, as many French fishermen still have not presented the correct documentation to prove that they have been fishing in these waters for years.

Fishing rights hampered a final Brexit deal until the last moment before last Christmas. In the end, both parties were affected. French fishermen were unhappy because they have lost very tight tariffs.

The islands, “dependent on the Crown”

The special legal status of Jersey – as well as Gernsey (neighbor of the former) and the Isle of Man, in the Irish Sea – complicates matters a bit.

Give the British excuses to delay decisions. These islands They are not officially part of the UK, although they are strongly linked to it. through culture, economy, language, currency and security.

They are “Crown dependencies” and enjoy autonomy. This allows them to have a very advantageous tax system, which has developed a bloated financial sector.

Jersey has been dependent on the rulers of England in its present status since 1204, over eight centuries ago. It all started with the Norman invasion of 1066 – the last one suffered by England – in which William the Conqueror played. The Duchy of Normandy and the Kingdom of England were under one crown.

But almost a century and a half later, King John of England lost all Norman territories to Philip II of France, with the exception of the Channel Islands.

This exception has survived for over eight hundred years. The problem is, the story, like a boomerang, always comes back, even if it takes the form of a heated lawsuit for the right to fish.

Paris. La Vanguardia, special

CB