Sharjah24 – AFP: Britain on Friday warned it may implement new checks on European Union fishing boats if France carries out its threats of retaliatory measures in a deepening row over post-Brexit access to waters.
French President Emmanuel Macron said that Britain's "credibility" was on the line in the dispute, accusing London of ignoring the Brexit deal agreed after years of tortuous negotiations.
"When you spend years negotiating a treaty and then a few months later you do the opposite of what was decided on the aspects that suit you the least, it is not a big sign of your credibility," he told the Financial Times.
But British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who will hold brief face-to-face talks with Macron at the G20 summit in Rome this weekend, vowed to defend UK interests.
"We will do whatever is necessary to ensure UK interests," he told reporters on board his plane as he flew to the G20 summit in Rome.
However he added that "the ties that unite us, that bind us together are far stronger than the turbulence that currently exists in the relationship."
France is incensed that Britain and the self-governing islands of Jersey and Guernsey, which depend on London for defence and foreign affairs, have not issued some French boats licences to fish in their waters post-Brexit.
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