Brussels, 29/01/2013 (Agence Europe) - The fisheries committee of the European Parliament (EP) is currently engaged in a stand-off with the Council of Ministers over the long-term recovery plans for the stocks of certain species of fish. The coordinators of the fisheries committee (including Antonello Antinoro for the EPP, Ulrike Rodust for the S&D and Isabella Lövin for the Greens/EFA group), who discussed this dossier on the evening of Monday 28 January, will meet in Strasbourg on Monday 4 February to decide on the strategy to follow to encourage the Council to make concessions.
A number of options were raised, such as blocking certain dossiers (particularly the third consecutive postponement of the report on technical measures) and bringing the matter before the Court of Justice of the EU. Certain members of the EPP (including French member Alain Cadec) and ADLE Groups suggested calling for a postponement of the vote on Rodust's report on the reform of the common fisheries policy (CFP). The President of the European Parliament supports the fisheries committee, which called on the European Commission to take its responsibilities as guardian of the treaties. Commissioner for Fisheries Maria Damanaki is largely on the EP's side as regards the inter-institutional blockage of the management plans.
Gabriel Mato Adrover (EPP, Spain), chairman of the fisheries committee, said: “given how serious the problem is and the need to preserve the competences of the EP, the three institutions must do all in their power to unblock the current situation”. All of the members of the committee are on the same wavelength and are extremely disappointed with the Council.
The recovery plans are one of the key elements of the CFP and four of them are blocked at Council level - (since November 2010) the Atlantic horse mackerel plan and the anchovy plan in the Bay of Biscay; - (since November 2012) the salmon plan in the Baltic Sea; - (since January 2012) the reconstitution plan for cod in the Baltic Sea. It is possible, in this context, for the EP to bring the matter before the Court of Justice.
As regards the cod plan in the Atlantic and the North Sea, the Council decided in December of last year to divide the proposal into two legislative acts: the first laying down the ordinary procedure (co-decision) and the second conferring the power of decision upon the Council alone. This situation has been described by the European Parliament as “unacceptable”, because the Council included technical measures in the regulation on fishing possibilities. This time, the EP has decided to bring the matter before the Court of Justice of the EU to challenge the Council's decisions on the Atlantic plan. In 2009, an initial case was brought on Venezuelan vessels entering into the waters of Guyana, and the Court's ruling on this case is to be returned in a few months' time.
The EP takes the view that the procedure for the adoption of the plans should be co-decision (Article 43.2, on the ordinary legislative procedure), whereas the Council and its legal services maintained that the Council alone should decide on certain elements of these plans which relate to the distribution of fishing possibilities (Article 43.3 of the treaty). On Monday 28 January, European fisheries ministers pledged their readiness to find a solution to this difference of opinion with the EP, which is poisoning discussions on the reform of the CFP (see EUROPE 10774 and 10773). (LC/transl.fl)