France hit with €59m penalty for illegal fishing

FRANCE was ordered yesterday to pay a €59 million penalty for failing to enforce EU fishing rules for nearly 15 years.

The French government was fined €20m in a landmark European court case last July for not complying with a 1991 verdict that the authorities had failed to prevent illegal over-fishing.

It paid that fine - but today the European Commission decided to trigger additional hefty financial penalties the judges said could be demanded if the situation did not improve.