Brussels, 22/10/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 22 October, the Council of the European Union adopted a decision, without debate, authorising the European Commission to open talks on behalf of the EU on renewing the protocol setting fishing opportunities and the financial compensation provided for in the fisheries agreement between the EU and the Republic of Gabon.
The current protocol will expire on 23 July 2016. The Council's external fisheries policy group examined the recommendation in September. The Commission representative highlighted that: - the current protocol is of critical importance to the EU tuna fleet; - the current annual reference tonnage of 20,000 tonnes is close to being fully used up by the French and Spanish fleets; - the analytical report supports renewal of the protocol. The Commission would like to begin negotiations at the end of October 2015. The delegations of the countries whose fleets are affected (Spain and France) underlined the importance of this protocol in the chain of bilateral tuna agreements. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)