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**Hugh** · 06-05-2021, 13:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sephiroth

.... and there was Vichy France. You should lay off the Nazi thing.

The important takeaway is that the French threat to cut off power is a state-issued hostile act.

You may wish to relay that to the Government "source" who said it, and the Telegraph which gave it such prominence…

Anyhoo, back in the Land of Not Comparing Things to Nazis, the Times gives a non-emotional view on this idiocy…

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/w...rsey-dst59fl9j

Quote:

The political stakes are high for President Macron and Boris Johnson.

What are the political implications in Britain?
The prime minister wants to show British voters, who are going to the polls today, that he is standing up for Britain’s sovereignty over its coastal waters and rights to decide on fishing licences.

This issue is particularly acute in Scotland and Hartlepool because of anger that Johnson did not look after the fishing industry when negotiating a post-Brexit fisheries deal with the EU late last year.

By standing up to France and the EU, he hopes to show voters from Scotland and Hartlepool that the government is defending Britain’s fishing industry by using the UK’s clout on the international stage.

What is going on in France?
The French president is trailing in the opinion polls behind Marine Le Pen, the far-right leader, ahead of closely contested elections in a year’s time.

Macron must show French voters, who value France’s fishing communities as symbolic of the country’s spirit, that he can defend a key national interest against Brexit Britain.

Other European leaders are also keenly aware that Le Pen, a Eurosceptic populist, will capitalise on the disputes to attack the EU because French boats are being disadvantaged under rules Brussels negotiated with the UK.

Quote:

Can France unilaterally cut off electricity supplies?
No. Any such move would be illegal under the terms of various energy treaties and the EU-UK trade and cooperation agreement, which has a formal dispute settlement procedure.

While independent dispute arbitration takes place, the EU — rather than France individually — can take unilateral economic measures, including tariffs. The agreement states that the EU can take “compensatory measures commensurate to the economic and societal impact of the change in the level and conditions of access to waters”. But it adds: “Such impact shall be measured on the basis of reliable evidence and not merely on conjecture and remote possibility.”

In 2026, when EU-UK energy trading agreements come up for renewal at the same time as a renegotiation on fishing rights, France will use the threat of cutting power or increasing the cost of electricity supplies as a bargaining chip.

Can Jersey fulfil its own energy requirements?
Jersey Electricity, which supplies customers on the island, certainly thinks so. Today it assured customers that if electricity supplies from France were disrupted, its own power stations had the “capacity to supply Jersey’s electricity requirements”.