UK-France fish spat deepens despite Macron-Johnson meeting

By SYLVIE CORBET and JILL LAWLESS
Associated Press

ROME (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson have met privately to try to resolve an escalating dispute over fishing in the English Channel. But the two countries appeared farther apart than ever and gave starkly differing versions of the meeting’s outcome. A top French official said both leaders agreed there was a need to talk to each other “in a situation of important tensions” over who is granted licenses to fish in U.K. waters. Britain denied the leaders had agreed to take steps de-escalate the spat, saying it was entirely up to France to calm the waters. The leaders held a 30-minute meeting Sunday morning in Rome on the sidelines of the G-20 summit.