Brussels, 27/11/2013 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 27 November, the committee on fisheries of the European Parliament approved the conclusion of the new fishing agreement between the EU and Morocco. The report by Carmen Fraga (EPP, Spain) recommending that the EP approve this agreement was adopted by a comfortable majority: 13 votes in favour, eight against and two abstentions.
The rapporteur has always argued that the new protocol responds to the concerns of the European Parliament. In December 2012, the Parliament refused to approve the one-year extension of the fisheries protocol with Morocco, which expired on 27 February 2012.
The fisheries committee of the EP rejected (by 13 votes to 8, with 2 abstentions) an amendment tabled by several MEPs from the Greens/EFA, GUE/NGL and ALDE groups (Isabella Lövin, João Ferreira, Willy Meyer, Raül Romeva i Rueda, Nicole Kiil-Nielsen, Jean-Paul Besset, Pino Arlacchi, Nils Torvalds, Jens Nilsson and Ole Christensen) rejecting the agreement.
The European Parliament is expected to approve the conclusion of the protocol in plenary on 10 December. (LC/transl.fl)