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POLITICS

UK gives 23 more post-Brexit permits to French fishermen

Britain has granted another 23 licences to French fishermen, a government spokesperson said on Saturday, a day after a deadline set by Paris to resolve a post-Brexit battle over fishing rights.

The harbour of Ouistreham, northwestern France
The harbour of Ouistreham, northwestern France, where French fishing boats blocked access to ferries last month in protest at post-Brexit arrangements. Sameer Al-DOUMY / AFP

The EU had set London a December 10th deadline to grant licences to dozens of French fishing boats under a Brexit deal signed last year, with Paris threatening European legal action if no breakthrough emerged.

The licences were agreed Friday night after British officials met European Union counterparts and followed what the spokesman called an “evidence-based approach” ensuring vessels qualify to work in UK waters.

The spokesperson added that the approach “provides stability and ensures the sustainability of our fisheries”, with the UK granting 18 licences and the Channel Island of Jersey five.

The EU hailed the agreement as “an important step in a long process” towards implementing the 2020 Brexit agreement and said work continued to license seven more vessels by Monday.

But France said it would “continue to work” to obtain a further 80 licences it insists its fishing fleet is entitled to.

France had previously said 104 of its boats still lacked licences to operate in British and Channel Island waters that should have been granted under the Brexit agreement.

With the 23 permits granted Saturday, France is still seeking 81 approvals having received 1,027 in total so far.

Under the deal, EU fishermen can continue to work in British waters if they can prove they used to fish there.

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“This work has accelerated in recent days… France and the EU continue to work together to ensure the full application of the trade and cooperation agreement,” said Fisheries Minister Annick Girardin and European Minister Clement Beaune in a joint statement.

Paris had threatened to lodge a complaint with the European Commission over the dispute.

That could have seen the EU impose financial penalties or even tariffs on British goods if Britain was judged to be reneging on its commitments.

Some 83 vessels have received licences since the EU attempted to intensify negotiations over outstanding applications in late November, according to Brussels.

French fishermen last month disrupted cross-Channel ferry and freight traffic in protest at the post-Brexit arrangements and consequent loss of trade.

Half a dozen fishing boats blocked access to ferries at the northern port of Calais and the port of Ouistreham in Normandy to the west.

In May, protesting French trawlers massed in front of Jersey’s main port and even caused a brief standoff with Royal Navy vessels.

The UK is highly dependent on French ports, particularly for fresh food imports, and any extended blockade would have the potential to have a significant impact.

The EU and Britain are also locked in a separate trade row over checks on products entering the British province of Northern Ireland after the UK government unilaterally postponed the introduction of checks.

The dispute has exacerbated deteriorating bilateral relations between Britain and France, who have clashed this year over migrant crossings in the English Channel, post-Brexit trade arrangements and submarine sales to Australia.

The British announcement comes a day before EU fisheries ministers meet in Brussels on Sunday to decide on annual fishing quotas in European waters.

The EU is holding talks separately with the UK towards fixing annual fishing quotas in their shared waters by the end of December.

READ ALSO: Macron vows not to let Channel ‘become a cemetery’ after at least 27 people die

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POLITICS

How disinformation targeting Brigitte Macron spread to the US and UK

Years after false posts began circulating on social media claiming that Brigitte Macron is a transgender woman, the French first lady remains the target of fake claims with the transphobic disinformation now being spread in the US and the UK.

How disinformation targeting Brigitte Macron spread to the US and UK

President Emmanuel Macron, 46, has in recent weeks lashed out at the false information spread about his wife, 70, who is taking legal action against those behind the allegations.

Prominent US right-wing commentator Candace Owens vehemently attacked the first lady in a now-deleted YouTube video posted on March 11th, propagating a false claim that first exploded in France just weeks before the 2022 presidential election.

Brigitte Macron is falsely said to have been born as a man called Jean-Michel Trogneux, her maiden surname, with that name going viral as a hashtag.

Macron is among a group of influential women – including former US first lady Michelle Obama and New Zealand ex-premier Jacinda Ardern – who have fallen victim to a growing trend: disinformation about their gender or sexuality to mock or humiliate them.

While this gendered disinformation is particularly visible in repeated attacks on prominent figures, it also affects women in general and sexual or gender minorities with differing levels of responsibility in public life.

According to the US-based observer group, the National Democratic Institute (NDI), the goal is to drive women “off the platforms and out of public life”, which has serious consequences for democracy.

Originally shared in the United States on sites like notorious disinformation hub 4chan, the claim snowballed when figures “with very large audiences gave it visibility”, doctoral researcher Sophie Chauvet, specialising in audience metrics, told AFP.

In her video, conservative commentator Owens cites a “thorough investigation” by so-called independent journalist Natacha Rey, published in the French newsletter Faits et Documents in 2021.

Founded in 1996 by far-right French figure Emmanuel Ratier and now headed by Xavier Poussard, Faits et Documents regularly promotes stories targeting the first lady, a journalist at the French weekly L’Obs, Emmanuelle Anizon, told AFP.

“But what is new is that Xavier Poussard started translating his articles at the end of 2023,” Anizon said, adding that he claims to have sent an English version to those close to former US president Donald Trump.

Anizon, who spoke to Poussard and his associate Aurelien Poirson who advised on the translation, explained that it was no accident that the US far right had taken up the false claim ahead of the November US elections.

“It was their dream to export this claim across the Atlantic,” she said.

And it worked, spreading like wildfire after Owens posted her video with two associated hashtags shared tens of thousands of times on X, according to social network analysis tool Visibrain.

The false claims have also been repeated by tabloid newspapers in the UK.

The disinformation “was available as and when required”, said Sebastian Dieguez, an expert in conspiracy theories at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland.

The “secretly trans” narrative is a long-standing feature of online, sexist violence, according to a 2021 Wilson Center report.

The bottom line, according to the NDI, is that silencing women has “serious consequences for human rights, diversity in public debates and the media, and ultimately, democracy.”

The impact is also personal for those targeted and their families.

Emmanuel Macron addressed the fake claims on International Women’s Day, saying, “the worst thing is false information”.

“People eventually believe them and disturb you, even in your private life,” he said.

The president’s relationship with his wife 24 years his senior, whom he met while she was a teacher and he was still a teenager, is periodically a source of media attention in France and abroad.

On March 22nd, a 51-year-old man was arrested in southwestern France for allegedly writing “Brigitte Macron, transsexual” on his garage, according to the French daily Le Figaro.

The first lady and her brother Jean-Michel Trogneux have taken legal action against two women who posted a YouTube video in December 2021 alleging she had once been a man named “Jean-Michel”.

A Paris criminal court is to try them on charges of defamation in March next year, a source close to the case has said.

The first lady’s daughter from her first marriage, Tiphaine Auzière, on Tuesday said she hoped the trial could quash the “grotesque” claims.

“Whether it’s my mother or anyone else in society, it can do a lot of harm,” Auzière told the BFMTV broadcaster.

“The justice system… can put an end to this misinformation and severely condemn the perpetrators because it’s a form of harassment like any other.”

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