Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Really very sad with France!

999 replies

Friendsoftheearth · 08/12/2020 06:52

I am quietly furious with France. We have been going to France between three and four times a year, every year for pretty much all of my adult life. We have spent most summer holidays, skiing and all the rest, choosing France as our destination over all over countries.

Every week I buy French cheeses, wine and truffle oils, and we are very big fans of France and French cuisine.

Even taking into account that Macron should hope and push for the best deal for their fishing industry, I still find it incredulous and insulting that they should be demanding ten years of fish, and are offering us a paltry percentage. Ten years.
They are in a total stand off regarding an even playing field, I understand the reasons for this, but honestly they are pushing all of us to a no deal outcome, that will see French fisherman with no catch whatsoever, and high tariffs slapped on all imports from France. Tourism will be destroyed as people will no longer wish to go there. It could poison relations for decades.

I am aware of the history between the UK and France, but rather naively thought we had moved on from that a very long time ago, I am in despair at the eleventh hour demands, and feel this is in very bad faith. It has really highlighted to me how little respect France have for us as a country.

I feel like I never want to go again, despite having a tentative booking for a holiday in the spring of next year.

OP posts:
Thread gallery
8
Tavannach · 08/12/2020 06:54

These are waters that the French have fished for centuries.

milienhaus · 08/12/2020 06:55

I like France too, but you’re taking this very personally! Macron needs to do the right thing for his country, not ours. The EU never needed us the way we need them.

Original poster
Friendsoftheearth · 08/12/2020 06:56

The waters belong to the UK tavannach the French have no rights over UK fishing waters.

OP posts:
Original poster
Friendsoftheearth · 08/12/2020 06:56

mill France have a great deal to lose if there is a no deal!!

OP posts:
GoldfishParade · 08/12/2020 06:57

For some reason in some circles its always been presented like the EU is some kind of altruistic, NGO-style care bear system, with the selfish money hungry UK on the other side.

Obviously the reality is every country is out to get the best deal for their own citizens. That's what France is doing.

WhyDoYouAsk · 08/12/2020 06:57

The EU never needed us the way we need them.

This! The U.K. really is a tiny fish in a gigantic pond.

tinytemper66 · 08/12/2020 06:57

Won't stop me going to France. First chance I get I will be on the Eurotunnel!

IHeartNiles · 08/12/2020 06:58

@milienhaus

I like France too, but you’re taking this very personally! Macron needs to do the right thing for his country, not ours. The EU never needed us the way we need them.
What crap. I’m furious about Brexit and think it’s a terrible idea but we were massive financial donors to the EU, and provided jobs to many young Europeans who would have been unemployed in their own countries.
Original poster
Friendsoftheearth · 08/12/2020 06:58

It is going to be counter productive gold if no deal is the result.

It is not so much the French pushing for the best deal, of course they will, but the fact they sprung it on us at the last minute just as the deal was looking likely. It is in bad taste. I feel it is not right at all.

OP posts:
AaronPurr · 08/12/2020 06:58

@milienhaus

I like France too, but you’re taking this very personally! Macron needs to do the right thing for his country, not ours. The EU never needed us the way we need them.
This says it so well.
Original poster
Friendsoftheearth · 08/12/2020 06:59

I have supported France in every way for decades. I am insulted.

OP posts:
KleinBlue · 08/12/2020 06:59

What an incredibly weird post. Did you think France owed the UK some particular loyalty on fishing rights because you go there on holiday and buy French cheese weekly?

GoldfishParade · 08/12/2020 06:59

I think the idea that the EU never needed us is just as deluded as the idea that the UK was hard done by by being in the EU.

Has debate really become so polarised now?

WhyDoYouAsk · 08/12/2020 06:59

If the U.K. make things difficult for France, France will do exactly the same back in other ways. They are unable (unwilling?) to agree to a level playing field. Greed is to blame on both sides.

rosie1959 · 08/12/2020 06:59

Surely if it's no deal France get no rights over fishing uk waters

Gamble66 · 08/12/2020 06:59

You buy French cheese thefore they should allow thier fishermen to be shafted? Your logic is flawless.

AaronPurr · 08/12/2020 07:00

@Friendsoftheearth

I have supported France in every way for decades. I am insulted.
You really do seem to be taking this incredibly personally.
GoldfishParade · 08/12/2020 07:00

I think France is bluffing anyway. The UK is the biggest importer of French goods. A compromise will need to be found to bit jeopardise that.

bellinisurge · 08/12/2020 07:01

Imagine how I felt when Priti Patel said we should use starvation as a weapon against Ireland.
Which is far worse than the President of a country acting to protect the interests of that country.

winechateauxjoy · 08/12/2020 07:01

France will put France first. The UK will put the UK first. Sadly, those who voted for Brexit and the politicians who encouraged them to do so are wholly to blame for the fiasco, not the French. Boris knew very well that a no deal Brexit was a very likely outcome and he should have been honest about this from the start. The other EU countries, quite rightly, will do what is best for them. It is not their job to bail out a country that is leaving.

It will not stop me from taking holidays in Europe. I can't wait to get back there - it has been one of the things that I have missed the most this year.

SabrinaThwaite · 08/12/2020 07:01

Don’t go to France then. Keep your jolly British pounds to spend in jolly little England.

That’ll show ‘em.

Europilgrim · 08/12/2020 07:02

I think if the boot was on the other foot, and WE were the ones having to invest hugely in new infrastructure and training in the middle of a pandemic because our neighbours had voted to do something incredibly stupid and their MPs didn't seem to understand anything about the geography of their own country then we would do exactly the same!

WhyDoYouAsk · 08/12/2020 07:04

I have supported France in every way for decades. I am insulted.

You’ve taken advantage of their tourist and export industry. The French have done the same for the U.K. Maybe they also feel insulted.

Mhdix · 08/12/2020 07:04

@GoldfishParade

I think France is bluffing anyway. The UK is the biggest importer of French goods. A compromise will need to be found to bit jeopardise that.
I think a lot of brexit voters are in for a shock.

The eu do not need us anywhere near as much as we need them.

We cannot possibly get a good deal, because if we do other countries will leave too.

I went into the brexit debate with a very open mind, but to me it was clear quickly that we have to remain.

The vote was a Nigel Farage pr stunt, where is he now? He won’t be around to clear up the mess

If you fell for it well done, you ticked the stupid box.

DimeBarLady · 08/12/2020 07:04

I still can’t understand why anyone thinks we have a leg to stand on here. We sold the fishing quotas, that is why they will continue to be allowed to fish. You cannot claim something back once it is sold unless you are planning to run as an entirely independent country which obviously we can’t do! Just because you like French cheese it doesn’t mean the French need to do something which isn’t beneficial to them.

Swipe left for the next trending thread