BUILDING better freight links with France would help ease the pressure on Jersey’s “highly stressed” supply chains, the Economic Development Minister has said – describing it is as “absurd” that the Island does not engage more with Europe.
Deputy Kirsten Morel said Jersey needs to focus more on its relations with as he called for increased freight capacity from France.
Speaking during a hearing of the Economic and International Affairs Scrutiny Panel yesterday afternoon, the minister said: “It still strikes me as slightly absurd that we bring our food in from 100 miles away across choppy seas, very choppy seas on a day like today, when a large part of that food could be coming from 30 miles away in much calmer seas.”
Deputy Morel added that the Island’s supply chain is “highly stressed” and that more resilience was needed within the freight routes.
Chair of the Panel, Deputy Montfort Tadier, asked if there were areas Deputy Morel “would have liked to have seen more investment in”.
The minister responded: “There is kind of one area that’s not just about financial investment – I still think that Jersey needs to put more of a focus onto our relations with Europe, particularly France.
“And that’s from an economic perspective as much as it is a political perspective.”
Deputy Tadier asked what benefits the Island would see as a result of focusing more on Europe.
“A lot of this comes around, one, supply chains – which we’ve talked about many times – and having a diversified and therefore more resilient supply chain,” Deputy Morel answered.
“And equally, from the arts, culture, heritage perspective, I think Jersey’s unique selling point, in many ways, is our relationship to Europe,” he continued.
“The French history that we have, the Jèrriais history that we have, that speaks to tourism as much as it speaks to any other part of the economy as well.”
The minister has previously highlighted the case for a regular supply route from France, contending it would help reduce Jersey’s vulnerability to weather-related ferry cancellations.
During a recent All Island Media event on population, Deputy Morel said: “Jersey’s future, for me, is an international future. It’s one where I think we have to decide our own relationship with our neighbours, in terms of Europe and France.
“I think we have to take control of these sorts of things much more strongly than we are at the moment.”
