Gabriel Attal made the comments during a press conference at the presidential Elysée Palace in Paris this week, at which he also revealed that the sanctions, currently being considered by ministers, could be introduced as early as next month.
It is unclear, however, how France would implement any price rise, as Jersey Electricity has a contract with EDF, from whom it buys its power at an agreed rate.
So far, 111 French vessels have received licences allowing them to fish in Jersey waters. They have all proven that they operated in the area for at least ten days in 2017, 2018 or 2019.
A further 31 boats, which, according to the Jersey government, have provided some but not all of the required evidence, have been given temporary licences and must supply the outstanding data by January.
However, 75 vessels which have applied for licences have, according to the Jersey government, provided little or no evidence and, unless they do so before the end of the month, will be ordered to stop fishing in Jersey waters. The situation has angered the French government, which claims that its fishermen have provided the correct data and that Jersey’s government is ‘wilfully withholding licences’.
Answering a question at the press conference, Mr Attal said: ‘There is a date which has been fixed – by Jersey itself – on the deadline to hand over the licences to France. It is 30 October and therefore it is 30 October that we will see if they have decided not to respect the agreement that was signed.
‘That means that, by the end of the week, we want to announce the types of sanctions that we think we could take and, for the timeframe you mention, it is sanctions that would be taken during the month of November – as soon as the deadlines have passed and the agreement has not been met.
‘There are several types of sanctions that are possible such as an energy [electricity] tariff, access to the ports and Customs issues. Other measures are possible and it is on this point that my colleagues, Annick Girardin, Yves Le Drian and Clément Beaune, will reveal by the end of the week.’
Mr Attal said Jersey and the UK had shown a ‘clear desire not to respect the agreement’.
‘On our side we, France, have always produced all the documents that were requested and all the information that was requested from our fishermen, and I want to pay tribute to them as they have shown a lot of patience,’ he said.
This week, External Relations Minister Ian Gorst told the JEP that although there was provision within the Brexit agreement for retaliatory measures to be taken against Jersey and the UK, these could only be implemented by the EU and not individual countries.
He also said that the current dispute relates to the type of evidence which France is trying to use to obtain licences. While Jersey favoured using logbook data, his French counterparts wanted to use data from on-board technology with, he said, questionable accuracy.
Technocrats in Brussels were due to meet this week to decide what types of data is acceptable.
He added that it would be up to the EU to decide whether Jersey had not complied with the agreement and to ensure that any sanctions were ‘proportionate’.
This week, speaking to La Figaro newspaper, an unnamed adviser to Minister of the Sea Annick Girardin acknowledged this. These comments followed an initial threat made by Ms Girardin to cut off Jersey’s power.
The adviser said: ‘We appealed to the [European] Commission to take over the sanctions proposed by Paris. The idea is to have sanctions at European level.
‘We’re walking on eggshells. We will have to stay within proportionate sanctions so as not to further affect the already well-deteriorated relationship with the United Kingdom.’
