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France warns of ‘reprisals’ as post-Brexit fishing row deepens

The French government warned on Tuesday that it was weighing reprisals after Britain set new rules governing access for French fishing boats near the Channel Islands, the latest skirmish in a deepening post-Brexit dispute.

Published: 4 May 2021 08:16 CEST
Updated: 4 May 2021 18:02 CEST

France warns of 'reprisals' as post-Brexit fishing row deepens

Fishing boats moored at the port of Le Guilvinec, western France. Photo: Fred TANNEAU / AFP

“We are ready to use these retaliation measures,” Maritime Minister Annick Girardin told lawmakers in parliament

She mentioned in particular consequences involving the underwater cables that supply electricity from France to Jersey, the largest Channel island.

“I am sorry it has come to this,” Girardin said, but “we will do so if we have to.”

Paris and London have increasingly clashed over fishing in recent weeks, as French fishermen say they are being prevented from operating in British waters because of difficulties in obtaining licences.

In the latest move, Britain on Friday authorised 41 ships equipped with Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) technology — which allows ships to be located — to fish in waters off Jersey, a self-governing British Crown Dependency.

But this list was accompanied by new demands “which were not arranged or discussed (with France), and which we were not notified about”, the French fisheries ministry said.

The measures effectively create new zoning rules for the waters near Jersey — “where the ships can go and cannot go”, as well as the number of days the fishermen can spend at sea and using what machinery, the ministry added.

“This is absolutely unacceptable,” Girardin said. “If we accept this for Jersey, it would imperil our access everywhere.”

France and Britain have increasingly clashed over fishing in recent weeks, with French fishermen saying they are being prevented from operating in British waters because of difficulties in obtaining licences.

The French fisheries ministry said Britain had introduced “new technical measures” relating to licences for fishing off the Channel Islands which had not been properly declared to the European Union under the terms of the Brexit deal.

“We consider that if the new demands for sea zoning or fishing equipment are integrated into the licences – when the European Commission has not been notified – they are null and void,” the ministry told AFP.

The ministry said it was adhering “strictly to the deal” agreed on fishing under the terms of Britain’s exit from the European Union on January 1st.

“If the United Kingdom wants to introduce new measures, it must notify the European Commission which in turn notifies us – that allows for us to engage in a dialogue,” the ministry said.

“These new technical measures are not applicable to our fishermen as things stand.”

Fishing proved one of the most fraught issues in the frantic negotiations leading up to Britain’s departure from the EU, with London tightly guarding control over its waters as a symbol of its sovereignty.

Reprisal measures?

France said it had voiced its displeasure at the surprise measures with the European Commission.

Commission spokeswoman Vivian Loonela said the EU was engaged in “intense joint work” with the British government to resolve the issue.

“Any condition should be notified in a timely way to allow the other party sufficient time to comment or adapt,” she said of the new British requirements.

“In addition, any such conditions cannot be discriminatory towards our fishermen.”

Dimitri Rogoff, president of the regional fishing committee of Normandy in northern France, said that if French fishermen continued to be blocked from the waters off Jersey, there should be reprisal measures.

“Fishermen from Jersey should not be able to land at Granville,” he said, referring to the French port nearest the island.

French fishermen last month began a protest movement, blockading trucks bringing fish from Britain to France, over complaints that few of their vessels have obtained licences to operate in British waters.

Member comments

Boggy - 5 May 2021 at 08:00 CEST

Less talk. Just flick the switch.
alan stuart - 5 May 2021 at 09:22 CEST

The Fisheries Framework Agreement can be ‘terminated at any point with 9 months notice’. I think if France cut Jersey’s electric that would certainly be the end of the Agreement and EU access to UK waters at all.

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What Brits in France need to know if they move back to the UK post-Brexit

Moving countries is a time-consuming process – but if you’re British and living in France you might think that moving back to the UK would be simpler? Well, there won’t be a language barrier and as a UK citizen you won’t need any immigration paperwork (although if you’re bringing a French partner with then that gets complicated) – but you will still face administrative hurdles around pensions, healthcare, driving and taxes.

Some of these issues existed before Brexit, while others are as a direct result of the UK leaving the EU. Here are the most common questions from Brits thinking of moving back to the UK;

Do I still qualify for NHS treatment?

You are entitled to NHS treatment if you are ‘ordinarily resident’ in the UK – there is no minimum time limit so as soon as you are back in the UK on a permanent basis, you can use the NHS. You will need to register for a GP in your local area in order to access non-emergency treatment, and to get an NHS number if you do not already have one.

You may need to provide proof of a UK address in order to use NHS services – although in reality UK citizens are rarely asked for this apart from when registering with a GP.

If you have been an S1 holder while living in the EU you should cancel that, just so there is no confusion over where you are getting your healthcare.

If you go back to France for a visit, remember that you are now a tourist and will need a GHIC card to get European healthcare, while travel insurance is also advised in case of accident or illness while visiting an EU country.

Can I drive on my EU licence?

If you have been living in France you may have had to change your UK licence for a French one (depending on the licence expiry date, as per the bilateral agreement between France and the UK on driving licences).

Once you’re back living in the UK you can continue to drive on your EU licence until you reach the age of 70, unless your licence expires before then.

If your licence has an expiry date (including the photocard expiry date) – once it’s time to renew, you should swap it for a UK licence.

Once you reach the age of 70, your licence will need to be exchanged for a UK one – even the licence itself remains valid. You don’t need to take a new driving test, it’s just a matter of swapping the licence – you can find details on the swap process for UK licences here, and if you’re in Northern Ireland here.

If your licence is from a non-EU country, you have 12 months to swap it for a UK or NI one.

You can continue to drive while the exchange process is happening.

Can I bring my French partner with me?

If you’re returning alone you won’t need to do any kind of immigration paperwork, your UK passport is enough. However if you are bringing with you a partner who is not a UK citizen, it becomes complicated.

After the end of the Brexit transition process there was an ‘amnesty’ period in which Brits with EU partners could move back to the UK under the old immigration rules. This is now ended and EU partners face the same immigration process as all other foreign spouses.

Essentially either your partner will need to have already secured a relatively high-paying job in the UK, or you will need to prove that you have a large amount of money to support them. They will need to go through the process of getting a UK visa (which is expensive – between £1,000 and £1,500 just for the visa fee) and there is no guarantee that their application will be successful simply because they are married/in a civil partnership with a Brit. They will also need to take an English-language exam.

Find full details here.

What about my pension contributions from the EU?

If you have been working in France, you will probably have been contributing to the French pension system. Pre-Brexit, UK and EU pension contributions could be blended into a single pension – but this is no longer the case.

Brits still living in the EU who are covered by the Withdrawal Agreement are theoretically covered by blended pensions if they had made pension contributions in the UK before moving to the EU, but the same does not apply if you move back to the UK.

The good news is that EU countries still practice this – so if for example you have worked in France, Germany and Italy your contributions will be totted up and paid out as a single pension – you apply in the last country you worked in. Bear in mind, however, that different countries have different pension ages. So if for example you worked in France (pension age 64 under the new system) and Greece (pension age 67) – you will start to get the French portion of your pension from the age of 64, but you won’t get the Greek part until you turn 67.

The country that is paying your pension may require you to have an EU bank account to pay into – and you should check with the country paying your pension whether there are any other conditions to observe.

When it comes to a pension from the UK, it depends on how long you worked there – the basic rule is that you need 10 years of National Insurance contributions in order to get a state pension. However the UK government states that periods of work done in the EU or EEA ‘may’ count towards your qualifying period. Even if they do, however, they don’t count towards the total pension amount – so for example if you worked for 7 years in the UK and the remaining 35 years of your career in the EU, you can qualify for a UK state pension, but it will only be based on the 7 years of work in the UK (in other words, the payment per month will be tiny).

Further details on UK pension entitlement here.

Do I need to hand back my residency card, health card etc before I leave the EU?

Most countries require that you hand back residency cards before you leave, but in truth this is rarely strictly enforced. Check with the préfecture that issued your carte de séjour what they want you to do with them, but most préfectures simply ask you to post it back.

EXPLAINED The bureaucratic boxes to tick if you plan to leave France permenantly

If you do end up keeping residency or healthcare cards – don’t use them on trips back to the EU. Tempting as it might be to avoid border queues or healthcare fees, you will create a confusing official record if you are claiming to be resident of two countries at once.

If you have taken French citizenship, that is a different matter and of course you are entitled to keep and use your French passport when visiting the EU.

READ ALL What do dual-nationals need to know about post-Brexit border controls

Do I still have to pay French taxes?

It’s highly likely that you were paying taxes in the country you lived in. Generally, tax declarations concern the previous year, so you will have to do at least one tax declaration and payment after moving back to the UK.

In France, the annual tax declaration takes place in April, and concerns the previous calendar year. So if for example you move back to the UK in September 2023, you will have to complete a tax declaration in April 2024, covering your 9 months of residency in France in 2023.

If you still own property in France you will pay property taxes there, and if you have any earnings in your former home you will likely still have to pay taxes there – check with your local tax office.

When you left the UK, you will likely have informed HMRC that you were leaving the country, so you will now have to tell them that you’re back. Whether you have to fill out a UK self-assessment form depends on whether you are a salaried employee or self-employed/retired.

Can I keep my French bank account? Do I need a new UK account?

This one depends on the policy of your bank, but most banks in France require you to have a French address.

It’s likely that your UK bank may have closed your account while you were living outside the UK, in which case you will need to open a new one.

A practical option while you are moving and still have interests in both countries is to open an internet bank account with a company like Wise or Revolut – these offer accounts in both pounds and euros and give you a European IBAN and a UK Sort code, so you can use it in both countries.

Will my EU qualifications be recognised?

If you were studying or gaining professional qualifications while living in the EU, don’t assume that these will be recognised in the UK. Brexit ended the mutual recognition of qualifications – check with the professional or academic body that issued them whether these are recognised in the UK, you may need to acquire a certificate of recognition.

It’s a good idea to check this point before you start job-hunting in the UK.

Be prepared for hassles

The advantage of moving back to the UK is that you’re not starting from scratch and at least you know how things like council tax, electricity billing and healthcare work.

However, don’t assume that it will all be plain sailing – your lack of a recent UK address will make you an anomaly in many companies’ systems and you’re likely to be forced to have several long and annoying conversations with call centres while you explain that while you are a UK citizen, you have not recently been living in the UK.

There are likely to be other niggles too – many UK car insurance companies won’t recognise a no-claims bonus built up abroad, so you’ll be back to paying full premiums on your car insurance, while banks might request extra money laundering checks due to your foreign associations.

And if you fondly imagined that switching from Edf France to Edf UK, or Orange France to Orange UK would be easy because they’re the same company, forget it. They insist they have nothing to do with each other, so you cannot transfer an account.

A lot of people in the UK also seem to be confused about the difference between citizenship and residency, so be prepared to have the following conversation a lot: “I’ve recently been living in France. No, I’m not French, I’m British, I was just living in France. Yes, I am a UK citizen.”

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