Brussels, 17/01/2013 (Agence Europe) - By deciding on Wednesday 16 January to postpone for the second time the vote on the report of Pat the Cope Gallagher (Fianna Fail, Ireland) on technical fisheries conservation measures, the European Parliament wants to show that it is fighting to have its prerogatives respected. This new report illustrates once again the arm wrestling that is going on between the Parliament and the European Council on the delicate issue of the long term management plans for fish stocks.
Since adoption of the Lisbon Treaty, the Parliament “has acquired new powers, especially in the framework of the common fisheries policy thanks to co-decision on the long term plans”, explains Alain Cadec (EPP, France), vice-chair of the Parliament's fisheries committee. “These plans enable the long term preservation of resources and the planning of fishing activity for several years. In short, they are the keystone of our fisheries policy, in terms of activity management, regionalisation, and conservation of resources”, he adds. Cadec states that since 2009 the Parliament has adopted its positions on the long term plans (anchovy, horse mackerel and cod) “but they are systematically blocked and buried by the Council”. According to Cadec, the Commission also says that it is the ordinary legislative procedure - in other words, co-decision - which must be applied for the long term plans. “The 27 member states, jealous of their prerogatives, have not accepted the new powers of the European Parliament in the area of fisheries since adoption of the Lisbon Treaty”, Cadec states indignantly, adding that he is “determined to fight for the European Parliament to keep the powers it has acquired since Lisbon”.
Last December, the Council went even further in ignoring the Parliament's prerogatives by unilaterally adopting the cod plan - “thus pulling the carpet from under the fisheries committee's feet, which was finalising its report on this file”. “The Council went too far by ignoring our report, and MEPs from the fisheries committee will fight to the end for their institution. The Council has to understand that it is not all-powerful”, Cadec warns. He recalled his determination: “A case has been opened at the Court of Justice of the EU for non-respect of the treaties. We have also called on the European Commission, the guardian of the treaties, to take a firm stance” (our translation throughout).
Pat the Cope Gallagher explained: “This report was postponed already in November in order to put political pressure on the Council to move forward with the issue of long term management plans which are currently blocked. Despite several attempts last year to solve this inter-institutional deadlock nothing has changed. These plans are vitally important in terms of protecting fisheries resources and ensuring the livelihood of communities dependent on fisheries. No progress has been made on these important plans since the introduction of the Lisbon Treaty in 2009.”
Derailing reform of the common fisheries policy (CFP). Continuing not to recognise the additional powers of the European Parliament under the Lisbon Treaty, “the Council risks derailing the CFP reform completely by leaving the European Parliament with no other choice but to delay the adoption of future CFP reports”, explains an ALDE Group press release. Pat the Cope Gallagher calls on the Irish Presidency to deal with this issue in a pragmatic and realistic way. “If the Irish Presidency is unable to map an acceptable way forward, this Parliament may have no alternative but to delay the adoption of future reports including the basic regulation of the common fisheries policy and the regulation on the European maritime and fisheries fund”, Gallagher concludes. (LC/transl.fl)