Brussels, 11/04/2013 (Agence Europe) - Negotiations between the institutions on reform of the common fisheries policy (CFP) are struggling to make progress, despite the two-day trialogue on Monday 8 and Tuesday 9 April (see EUROPE 10817 on the beginning of the trialogues).
One or more further trialogues will be needed to examine all the proposals on CFP reform. The next is due to take place on 24 April and the Presidency of the Council of Ministers is planning on holding further meetings in mid-May.
EP/Council/Commission discussions on 8-9 April have helped to make slight progress on a number of issues, such as the external dimension of the CFP and fisheries enforcement.
On more controversial subjects (maximum sustainable yields or MSY, the ban on discards, the link between the CFP and the environment, multiannual plans and stock management), the most that can be sais is that discussions were helpful in improving the understanding of the respective Council and Parliament positions, which are still very far removed from each other.
MSY: the Council wants the EU to improve the CFP so that the use of the sea's biological resources re-establish and maintain the population of stocks fished at least at levels that facilitate MSY and that these catch rates are reached by 2015 if possible and by 2020 at the latest. The EP has requested that they go further than MSY. The Commission has put forward two possible compromise measures on this issue but nothing has been achieved on the matter as yet.
Multiannual plans: the EP, Council and Commission all want to find a solution within the framework of the basic CFP regulation. The Council is calling for respect for the Lisbon Treaty which makes the Council exclusively responsible for measures that set out fishing opportunities. The EP is demanding co-decision on certain parts of these management plans. During the trialogue, the Council and EP agreed to reduce the compulsory list of factors that must be included in the plans, which is a positive sign with regard to prospects for compromise.
With regard to the relationship between the CFP and environmental policy, each institution is sticking to its respective positions: the EP and Commission want delegated acts and the former would also like to extend the scope of the environmental legislation to be respected as part of the CFP framework.
Discard ban: the EP has a very ambitious position, which the Council deems unreasonable. MEPs would like to extend the ban on discards to all species, with fewer derogations. The Council wanted the requirement to land all catches to apply only to the species covered by total allowable catches (TAC) and quotas and those subject to minimum landing sizes. The Council is less strict than the EP on the dates for implementation, with variations allowed according to the different zones and species.
Council red lines
On 22 April, at the Council in Luxembourg, European fisheries ministers will hold a policy debate on CFP reform. It is said that the Presidency is seeking to obtain a revised mandate in an attempt to make progress in the negotiations with the EP. Nonetheless, a block of states argued at the Coreper (committee of EU member states' permanent representatives) meeting that four non-negotiable red lines be presented: - respect for the position of the Council on multiannual plans; - respect for the Council's position on MSY (2015 or 2020 and no further); - a de minimis exemption on the discard ban (this involves an acceptable level of discards that, according to the Council agreement, will be phased in: 9% of catches/per day at sea in 2014 and 2015; 8% in 2016 and 2017 and 7% as from 2018) and entry into force of this derogation at the same time as the landing requirement; - no amendment to the scope of the discard ban. (LC/transl.fl).