France backs off
French President Emmanuel Macron has said he was postponing planned trade sanctions on Britain so that negotiators from both sides could work on new proposals to defuse their dispute over post-Brexit fishing rights.
France had earlier said that, starting from 2300 GMT on Monday, it would restrict cross-Channel trade, threatening to turn bickering over fish into a wider trade dispute between two of Europe's biggest economies.
But Macron, who earlier on Monday met British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on the sidelines of the United Nations climate conference in Glasgow, told reporters the French plan was on hold pending the outcome of renewed talks.
"Since this afternoon, discussions have resumed on the basis of a proposal I made to Prime Minister (Boris) Johnson. The talks need to continue," Macron told reporters.
"We welcome France's acknowledgement that in-depth discussions are needed to resolve the range of difficulties in the UK/EU relationship," a UK government spokesperson said in a statement.
Earlier on Monday, Britain gave France 48 hours to back down from the threat of sanctions or face legal action under the Brexit trade deal.
The measures threatened by France include increased border and sanitary checks on goods from Britain and banning British vessels from some French ports, steps that have the potential to snarl cross-Channel trade.
Britain and France have squabbled for decades over access to the rich fishing grounds around their Channel coasts.
The fishing issue dogged the negotiations that led to Britain's exit from the European Union, not because of its economic importance - it is scant - but rather its political significance. Re-asserting Britain's control over its fishing grounds was a central plank of the case for Brexit that Johnson presented to British voters. Macron, meanwhile, faces re-election next year and needs to be seen standing up for his nation's trawler crews, a vocal political constituency.
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