A new agreement is expected to resolve the bitter UK-French spat over fishing, after Emmanuel Macron extended the deadline for sanctions and Britain signalled it was in “solutions mode”.
The French president declared late on Monday night that he was pausing his threat of retaliatory measures including trade disruptions and port bans so that discussions with the EU and Britain could continue on Tuesday.
His announcement came just four hours before his initial cut-off for action to resolve the row, which is about fishing licences for French boats in British waters. It marked a climbdown after the Elysee had confirmed his midnight deadline earlier on Monday.
A senior UK Government source welcomed the move, saying Britain was “glad that France has stepped back”, adding: “We’ve stuck to our position and were ready to respond if they had brought forward these measures.”
London has maintained the threatened sanctions would put the EU in breach of its future relationship pact with the UK.
The British source went on to insist the UK’s position on fishing licences “remains unchanged”, arguing that it is in line with the terms of the pact.
Lord Frost, the Brexit minister, is now due to conduct talks in Paris with Clement Beaune, France’s Europe minister, on Thursday. The pair also spoke on Monday.
Mr Beaune said France would hold off on its threat of retaliatory measures after receiving signals from the “British authorities that will speed up talks”.
He said that the French would not impose their threatened sanctions on Britain until after the meeting with the Brexit minister and the British response to the proposals had been examined.
