France offers fishing-spat reprieve

GLASGOW, Scotland -- France's president offered Britain an extra day of negotiations on Monday to try to reach a compromise on a post-Brexit fishing spat, hours ahead of a threatened French blockade of British ships and trucks.

France has threatened to bar British boats from some of its ports and tighten checks on boats and trucks carrying British goods if more French vessels aren't licensed to fish in U.K. waters by today. Paris has also suggested it might restrict energy supplies to the Channel Islands, which are heavily dependent on French electricity.

The French government had said the port blockade would begin at midnight Monday if no compromise was found. But late in the day, French President Emmanuel Macron said talks would continue throughout the day today.

Speaking to reporters in Glasgow, Scotland, where he is attending an international climate conference, Macron said the discussions center on a proposal he made to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson after they met Sunday at the G-20 meeting in Rome.

"I asked the British to come back to us tomorrow with other propositions," Macron said. "We will see where we are at the end of day tomorrow."

The two countries said Britain's Brexit minister, David Frost, and French Europe Minister Clement Beaune would hold talks Thursday in Paris.

Earlier Monday, the European Commission said it had called a meeting involving officials from Britain, France and the Channel Islands of Jersey and Guernsey, which are self-governing British Crown dependencies with control over their own territorial waters, "to allow for a swift solution on the outstanding issues" in the dispute over French fishing boats' access to British waters.

Paris says authorities in the Channel Islands and Britain have denied permits to French boats that have fished in waters where they have long sailed, scooping up lobster, sea snails, sea bream and other fish from the English Channel. Britain says it has granted 98% of applications from EU vessels, a proportion that French authorities have questioned.

Britain says a few dozen boats have not been given permits because they have not shown the required paperwork to back up their applications.

Information for this article was contributed by Angela Charlton and Jill Lawless of The Associated Press.

Boxes of scallops fished in the UK waters are pictured at the port of Granville, Normandy, Monday, Nov. 1, 2021. France has threatened to bar British boats from some of its ports and tighten checks on boats and trucks carrying British goods if more French vessels aren't licensed to fish in U.K. waters by Tuesday Oct.2, 2021. French fishing crews stood their ground, demanding a political solution to a local dispute that has become the latest battleground between Britain and the European Union. (AP Photo/Nicolas Garriga)

French President Emmanuel Macron, left, and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson prepare to throw a coin in the water at the Trevi Fountain during an event for the G20 summit in Rome, Sunday, Oct. 31, 2021. The two-day Group of 20 summit concludes on Sunday, the first in-person gathering of leaders of the world's biggest economies since the COVID-19 pandemic started. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

A fisherman unloads crabs from a French trawler coming from the British waters, in the port of Granville, Normandy, Monday, Nov. 1, 2021. France has threatened to bar British boats from some of its ports and tighten checks on boats and trucks carrying British goods if more French vessels aren't licensed to fish in U.K. waters by Tuesday Oct.2, 2021. French fishing crews stood their ground, demanding a political solution to a local dispute that has become the latest battleground between Britain and the European Union. (AP Photo/Nicolas Garriga)

A fisherman removes a rope around a box of scallops fished in the UK waters, in the port of Granville, Normandy, Monday, Nov. 1, 2021. France has threatened to bar British boats from some of its ports and tighten checks on boats and trucks carrying British goods if more French vessels aren't licensed to fish in U.K. waters by Tuesday Oct.2, 2021. French fishing crews stood their ground, demanding a political solution to a local dispute that has become the latest battleground between Britain and the European Union. (AP Photo/Nicolas Garriga)

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, left, talks to French President Emmanuel Macron, at the COP26 U.N. Climate Summit in Glasgow, Scotland, Monday, Nov. 1, 2021. The U.N. climate summit in Glasgow gathers leaders from around the world, in Scotland's biggest city, to lay out their vision for addressing the common challenge of global warming. (Christopher Furlong/Pool via AP)

A French trawler coming from the British waters arrives at the port of Granville, Normandy, Monday, Nov. 1, 2021. France has threatened to bar British boats from some of its ports and tighten checks on boats and trucks carrying British goods if more French vessels aren't licensed to fish in U.K. waters by Tuesday Oct.2, 2021. French fishing crews stood their ground, demanding a political solution to a local dispute that has become the latest battleground between Britain and the European Union. (AP Photo/Nicolas Garriga)

The British trawler kept by French authorities docks at the port in Le Havre, western France, Thursday, Oct. 28, 2021. French authorities fined two British fishing vessels and kept one in port overnight Thursday Oct.28, 2021 amid a worsening dispute over fishing licenses that has stoked tensions following the U.K.'s departure from the European Union. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, left, greets French President Emmanuel Macron, at the COP26 U.N. Climate Summit in Glasgow, Scotland, Monday, Nov. 1, 2021. The U.N. climate summit in Glasgow gathers leaders from around the world, in Scotland's biggest city, to lay out their vision for addressing the common challenge of global warming. (Christopher Furlong/Pool via AP)