Brussels, 18/12/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 18 December, following the European Parliament's rejection of their resolution to throw out the Commission's delegated regulation on 19 August 2014 on the Philippines' access to the Generalised System of Preferences + (GSP+), Franck Proust (EPP, France) and Alain Cadec (EPP, France) responded. They stated that the “European Parliament has just allowed the Philippines to export illegal duty-free tuna products to the European market, this is insane!”
The two MEPs added that, “this is a provocation to our fishermen. They have to confront unfair competition from the Philippines. With regard to our consumers, it is not right! The European Commission is incapable of guaranteeing the legality of the fishing products they will be consuming over the next few months”.
The resolution from the two MEPs demanded that the GSP + status is not granted as long as the Commission has not cancelled the notification with which the Philippines could be considered as a third country that is not cooperating in the fight against illegal fishing. (LC)