RENNES (France), Oct 29 — French prosecutors today ordered a trial for the captain of a British trawler detained on charges of operating without a licence, escalating a fishing rights row that could spark a trade war as soon as next week.

The two sides have been at loggerheads for months over new licensing rules for EU boats wanting to operate in waters around Britain and the Channel Islands.

France has accused Britain of refusing to give permits to dozens of its vessels and threatened retaliation, though the UK denies the claims.

French authorities seized the vessel at Le Havre on Wednesday accusing it of scooping up more than two tons of scallops in France’s waters without a proper permit.

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The city’s deputy prosecutor Cyrille Fournier said the captain would face a hearing next August on a charge of “non-authorised fishing in French waters”, which carries a maximum fine of €75,000 (US$87,000) and potential “administrative penalties”.

Andrew Brown of Scotland-based Macduff Shellfish, which owns the trawler, told AFP on Friday talks were continuing to get the boat and its crew out of Le Havre.

He said he believed it had the proper licence and suggested there may have been an “administrative misunderstanding”.

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The dispute is likely to dominate a meeting between French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on the sidelines of the G20 summit starting in Rome on Saturday.

London has already summoned the French ambassador to Britain for consultations on Friday to explain the “threats”, just hours after French Prime Minister Jean Castex offered to open talks to defuse the row.

‘Completely inflammatory’

France has warned that unless licences are approved it will ban UK boats from unloading their catches at French ports from next week and impose time-consuming checks on all products brought to France from Britain.

Officials have also suggested that France could hike electricity prices for Jersey, which relies on mainland France for its power supplies.

UK environment minister George Eustice on Friday accused France of “inflammatory language” and did not rule out blocking French vessels from landing their catches in the UK in retaliation.

Asked about the claim by France’s Europe Minister Clement Beaune that the only language Britain understood was “the language of force,” Eustice told the BBC: “That is completely inflammatory and is the wrong way to go about things.”

Gunboat standoff

French fleets accuse officials in Britain and its dependency of Jersey of using Brexit as an excuse to stop them securing licences for waters they say they have plied for years.

London has denied the claims, but the French measures could quickly have an impact since the British fishing industry depends on French ports as a gateway to Europe, its main export market.

Tensions over the licence requests had already spiralled into a brief naval standoff last May, when dozens of French trawlers massed in front of the Saint Helier harbour in Jersey.

Fears of a blockade prompted Boris Johnson to send two Royal Navy gunboats to the area, with France then sending two of its own coastal patrol vessels before the French trawlers retreated.

The European Union has said talks will continue with both sides on resolving a dispute, with France seeking support from fellow members of the 27-member club.

On Friday, the German government called on both countries to work to defuse the increasingly bitter row.

“From our point of view, what’s important now is for both sides to return to the negotiations of the past weeks and months,” a foreign ministry spokeswoman said. — AFP