Brussels, 02/12/2014 (Agence Europe) - In the long-standing dispute about the Parliament's powers as co-legislator in the domain of the common fisheries policy (CFP), the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) supported the Parliament's plea that the Council was wrong in adopting a decision concerning access to EU waters by Venezuelan vessels without the Parliament's consent. The judgment, delivered on 26 November, could help solve the deadlock over multiannual fisheries plans.
“This is very encouraging news for the democratic influence over decision making in the EU. The European Parliament stands ready to play its role as co-legislator in the common fisheries policy in full”, said Alain Cadec (EPP, France), chair of the Parliament's fisheries committee.
In cases C-103/12 and C-165/12, the European Parliament and the European Commission called for annulment of Council decision 2012/19/EU of 16 December 2011, on the approval, on behalf of the European Union, of the statement on allocation of fishing opportunities in EU waters to fishing vessels flying the flag of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, in the exclusive economic zone off the coast of French Guyana. In its ruling, the Court took the view that Article 43, paragraph 2 of the TFEU should have been used as the legal basis of the decision, and not Article 43 paragraph 3.
Article 43 (2) provides for the legislative procedure (cohesion) to be used for measures necessary for the pursuit of the objectives of the common fisheries policy. Article 43 (3) stipulates that the Council should adopt measures relative to the setting and allocation of fishing opportunities.
Management plan. In a separate case (C-124/13) dating from March 2013 and relating to the multiannual management plan for cod stocks in the Atlantic and North Sea, Parliament argues that every multiannual plan forms a whole which only contains provisions in the pursuit of the sustainability and conservation objectives of the CFP and must therefore be adopted in its entirety under Article 43(2) TFEU. Parliament also challenges the Council decision seeking to adopt the regulation at issue separately from the rest of the Commission proposal. According to the Parliament, this constitutes an “abuse of power”. The ruling in this case is keenly awaited by the Parliament.