Brussels, 25/09/2012 (Agence Europe) - Spain is not alone in its fight to review the modalities in the new EU/Mauritania fisheries agreement. It can now count on the support of four other countries, Poland, Portugal, Lithuania and Latvia. At Spain's request, EU fisheries ministers brought up this dossier at the meeting in Brussels on Tuesday 25 September.
Spain is contesting the technical and economic modalities of this agreement initialled last July (EUROPE 10682). It believes that these modalities prevent Spanish ships from working in Mauritanian waters. The technical conditions do not allow Spanish ships that target deep-sea fish to operate and Spain has lost its licence for fishing cephalopods.
The European Commissioner for fisheries, Maria Damanaki, again informed these countries that the agreement between the two parties was the best result possible, given the circumstances (no fewer than seven months were required to conclude negotiations!). The Commission, however, said that it was prepared to begin a technical level dialogue with member states in an attempt to find the best possible solution to the concerns expressed by Spain and the four other countries. The new EU/Mauritania protocol will need to be approved by the Council of Ministers of the EU and the European Parliament. (LC/trans/.fl)