Britain and France are still in a fierce cross-strait confrontation Fishing license On Thursday, Lord David Frost, Secretary of State for Brexit Affairs, and Clement Born, Minister of European Affairs of France, met in Paris to provide services for French ships in British waters.

According to the two governments, the two sides cannot even agree on how many licenses are in dispute, and discussions will continue next week. France has threatened to impose retaliatory sanctions against the United Kingdom — including stricter controls on European shipments arriving in France — but suspended these measures while negotiations continue.

“We have agreed to speed up and strengthen negotiations next week,” Bohn said, adding that there is still a big gap between the two sides.

“Lord Frost and Minister Bowen are expected to speak again early next week,” the British government said. “They discussed a series of difficulties arising from the application of the agreement between the United Kingdom and the European Union. Both sides have clarified their positions and concerns.”

Senior French officials accused the British government of deliberately targeting France by depriving 200 fishing boats of full licenses to fish in British waters and near the Channel Islands under the Brexit Agreement, even though they have been more than 10 months old. It took effect.

The French stated that of the 200 pending permits, 14 are considered urgent and apply to vessels located in northern France whose captains wish to continue fishing in British territorial waters 6 to 12 nautical miles from the south coast of England .

The United Kingdom stated that if these vessels provide the necessary evidence to fish in the area during 2012-16, they will obtain permits.However, in a Statement to Parliament On Wednesday, the government released data showing that 96% of permit applications from EU member states have been approved. According to the statement, only 89 permits from France are pending or rejected because they lack evidence of previous fishing activities in the relevant area.

“There is still a lot of work to be done,” a French official said before the meeting on Thursday. “We have been negotiating for 10 months and changed our approach [to verify previous fishing] several times. “

Fishing is just one of the issues that the Boris Johnson administration will confront with France and the rest of the European Union after Brexit. The other is the struggle for the Northern Ireland Agreement, according to which the United Kingdom agreed to conduct border inspections in the Irish Sea to prevent a border from appearing on the island of Ireland. This means that the North will effectively remain in the EU single market, and its border with EU member Ireland will remain open. Frost will discuss this issue with Maros Sefcovic, Vice President of the European Commission and EU Brexit negotiator on Friday.

Many in Brussels expect Britain to unilaterally suspend the agreement in the coming weeks. Then the EU will have to decide how to retaliate, possibly imposing tariffs.

Additional reporting by Eir Nolsoe