A ‘VERY high priority’ is being placed on improving Jersey’s relationship with France, according to the External Relations Minister.
Deputy Philip Ozouf, who recently met French diplomat Gerrit van Rossum, also said that an updated Common Policy for External Relations (CPER) – which sets out the principles for the conduct of Jersey’s foreign relations – was being agreed by the Council of Ministers and that an in-committee debate was due to take place next month to achieve this.
Deputy Ozouf said that Brexit had placed the connection between the two jurisdictions ‘under some strain’, and that the dispute over fishing licences – which last year saw a flotilla of French craft stage a protest in St Helier Harbour – was a ‘poster child’ example of the resulting tensions.
He said that improving relations with France was a ‘very high priority’ for the new government and that this would be considered as part of the new CPER.
‘We are needing to refresh and deepen, in a meaningful way, our relations with France. The relationship is important and underpinned by a geographical proximity but also by centuries-old cultural and trade links.
‘What we are trying to do is gain trust between our respective governments,’ he added.
In an email to the Assembly, Deputy Ozouf outlined a timeline in which a background report is due to be published on 31 August, to be followed by drop-in information sessions for States Members ahead of an in-committee debate on 14 September – with the revised CPER to be published later that month.
‘I want to hear the views from the Assembly,’ he said.
In a post on their official Twitter page, the French Embassy in the UK said: ‘France and @GovJersey are determined to work together on fruitful and trustful relations.’
