Really very sad with France!

[Friendsoftheearth]

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.

Well dont worry OP. Now instead of buying French cheeses and wine, you'll be able to buy a lot of lovely fish instead whilst stocks last.

Since we didn't have a leg to stand on in negotiations with the EU, CoronaIsWatching

@OuiOuiKitty

It baffles me how some people in Britain seem amazed that other countries want to look out for their own best interests exactly the same way Britain does.

This isn't a game of snakes and ladders, other countries aren't just going to let you win because you buy their cheese sometimes.

Also baffling is that even Britain isn't looking out for it's own interests at the moment, but those of the 1%. Britain is committing economic suicide. It's hilarious.

I'm more annoyed that the UK Government seem willing to trash the economy with a no deal Brexit due to their willy waving over fishing - a tiny proportion of GDP. Sometimes I think they doing this because they know they promised something they can't deliver and now they need an excuse to walk away.

@Applesonthelawn , you won, get over it

The budgets market for the fish we do fish is France. Brits don’t seem to value sardines etc

We import lots of cod etc.

People don’t really understand the fishing market - yet another brexit mess

@StCharlotte

When we bought our village shop (in a very rural agricultural village), the previous owners told us the locals won't buy anything French.

Except almost without exception they all had French cars

I think a lot of rural communities like to buy local cheese and bread rather than French cheese and bread. Nothing wrong with that. Unless your local area made cars then its not hypocritical.

How are the fishing folk going to feel if there is no deal ?

75% of the fish caught by UK boats is exported, mostly to the EU. Conversely the majority of the fish eaten in the UK is imported.

What impact is a no deal scenario going to have on them ?

Biggest! Not budget

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

I don’t think Boris did know.
I think he treated the whole BREXIT campaign as some sort of stunt not thinking that people actually wanted to leave the EU

Any one who had spoken to a lot of people outside their own little bubble of friends and family/geographical area would have known what the outcome would be.

Their was no thought that we might vote leave. It was a complete certainty

Love the idea that your going on holiday and buying cheese was done altruistically to support France

By "Brexitrolls, you mean the democratic majority?*

👍

Well don't suppose France is going to roll over because you buy a cheeky Rustique and a bottle of Chardonnay from Tesco's of a weekend OP

Did this "democratic majority " vote for No Deal?

Hilarious thread, so predictable. Macron is happy to play the baddie over fish, but the French are not the only ones hard-balling on this. Anyway, fishing is the easiest thing for them to find a compromise on. The UK government's refusal to adhere to international treaties they signed is a much bigger issue.

We can read English in other countries you know, we see the lies that are being spouted. It is really amazing to see how quickly a country can ruin its reputation. At least the US has some hope on the horizon with Biden. The UK has another 4 years of Johnson, if he can be arsed hanging around that is.

You know mumsnet is going to be full of threads next year about how the mean French make them pay for visits to hospitals, won't let their pet on the ferry without a special passport, make them queue behind people having their visas checked in airports and how customs won't let them fill their boot with wine in Calais for their wedding...

This is like a football team selling its star striker to another team, then complaining when he puts one past your keeper the next time the two teams play.

The EU has always been a number of countries with a variety of different interests (e.g. France famously with its agriculture and the CAP), but at least as members of the club, we had a bigger say, and we could count on the support of other members (e.g. Netherlands, Denmark) to support our side in the debate.

I am sure the French are trembling in their boots at the thought of you withdrawing your custom, OP.

Seriously, what did you expect?

@MrsMiaWallis

I don't think Macron is very popular in France.

Macron and Johnson have similar popularity rankings - about 30-35% approval ratings

75% of the fish caught by UK boats is exported, mostly to the EU. Conversely the majority of the fish eaten in the UK is imported

How much of the “imported fish” comes from what would be UK waters

@Tambourina but isn’t Dairylea produced in Belgium?

We are about to find out if the EU are acting in good faith

For someone who claims to be such a Francophile you don't know much about them do you? Or apparently that UK fishing companies sold their quotas to other European fishing companies. They were not "taken".

If your previous house owner came back and demanded you leave the house they freely sold you would you roll over and pass the keys?

The fishing stuff is partly headline grabbing distraction. The competition rules are a bigger sticking point for many Euopean politicians. We want to retain the right to undercut European standards whilst whining about the US trade deal potentially doing the same to us.

You cannot expect free trade with your nearest neighbour without agreeing common standards/subsidy rules.

Don't you think these numpties could have sorted this out during, let's say, the transition period of a YEAR.
Oven ready deal , remember?

Who gives a stuff about fish.

It's the UK government, not France, or the rest of Europe that have created this stalemate on the back of over-representation of lobby groups in this country.

Fishing is small-time in the UK, tiny, we've lost more jobs this week in department stores than if the entire fishing industry disappeared overnight (which it wont), what's more, we export over 70% of our fish, so even if we protect the right to fish our own waters, so unless we are able to protect free trade, excluding foreign fishermen is pointless.

@Oliversmumsarmy not that much interestingly. We dont really like a lot of the fish we produce.