Brussels, 21/10/2009 (Agence Europe) - European Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg announced to EU fisheries ministers on Tuesday 20 October that he was going to ask the Commission to initiate procedures to withdraw the proposal on the new fisheries partnership agreement signed with the Republic of Guinea. This is a move to show that the Commission refuses to assist the ruling junta after its bloody repression of the opposition.
In a press release, Commissioner Borg says that, “In the current uncertain context, there is no doubt that it would be politically unacceptable for the Commission to proceed with a financial transfer to Guinea”. The agreement, which refers to tuna fisheries, was, at the start of October, rejected by the European Parliament fisheries committee (see EUROPE 9989). A Council decision, however, meant that arrangements allowing EU vessels to fish in Guinean waters to continue. Sources indicate that it will be difficult for the EU not to pay the Guinean authorities the money due in compensation for tuna already caught by Community vessels.
The EU has also suspended its development assistance to Guinea. Direct humanitarian aid will not be affected. According to European diplomats, the EU is considering targeted sanctions against those responsible for the bloody repression of an opposition demonstration at the end of September, and is also planning an arms embargo, similar to the ban imposed on Saturday by the Economic Community of West African States. (L.C./transl.rt)