Brussels, 02/12/2015 (Agence Europe) - At the request of the European Parliament and the European Commission (Case C-124 and C-125/13), on Tuesday 1 December, the Court of Justice annulled Council Regulation 1243/2012 which amended the long-term plan for the management of cod stocks in the Atlantic and North Sea, particularly in its articles containing the rules for setting catch limits. In response to a request from the Commission, however, the Court decided that the effect of the regulation should be maintained until a new regulation comes into force, within a reasonable timeframe and certainly before 1 January 2017.
This ruling, then, confirms the Parliament's view that the legal basis used by the Council for this regulation - Article 43(3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU) - was not correct. That Article gives the Council, acting on a Commission proposal, exclusive power to adopt measures to set and allocate fishing opportunities, thereby denying Parliament any involvement in the adoption of the contested regulation. Parliament believed that the correct legal basis was Article 43(2), which gives it co-decision powers with the Council under the ordinary legislative procedure.
The Court ruled for Parliament, stating that the amendments brought by the contested regulation “are not confined - contrary to the Council's contention - to merely providing for the fixing and actual allocation of fishing opportunities in specific circumstances and on an annual basis” but “define the legal framework in which fishing opportunities are established and allocated” by removing the shortcomings arising from application of the previous rules which were jeopardising attainment of the objectives of the multiannual plan. These amendments “result from a policy choice having a long-term impact on the multiannual recovery plan for cod stocks” and “constitute provisions necessary for the pursuit of the objectives of the CFP. Consequently, those amendments should have been adopted under the legislative procedure referred to under Article 43(2) TFEU”.
The Parliament's fisheries committee welcomed the ruling which confirms that “the Council was wrong in splitting the proposal for a multiannual cod plan and adopting part of it single-handedly, side-lining the Parliament”. “Now it is clear: multiannual plans are under co-decision. The Parliament has a key role to play in common fisheries policy decision-making”, said committee chair Alain Cadec (EPP, France). (Original version in French by Francesco Gariazzo)