Brussels, 15/12/2015 (Agence Europe) - In its adoption, on Tuesday 15 December, of the report by Gabriel Mato (EPP, Spain), by 571 votes in favour, six against and 65 abstentions, the EP stressed the technical measures in the fisheries sector (see EUROPE 11448), and the fact that the Court of Justice of the EU has taken its side over the cod stocks recovery plan in the North Sea.
In its adoption of an amendment in plenary, the EP points out that the Court of Justice of the EU confirmed that in view of the objective and content of the regulation modifying the long-term plan for cod stocks, this text should have been adopted on the basis of article 43, paragraph 2 of the treaty, by means of an ordinary legislative procedure, “with the Parliament acting as co-legislator, as the regulation contains political choices with an impact on the multi-annual plan, which are therefore necessary to pursue the objectives of the common fisheries policy”.
On 1 December 2015, the Court of Justice returned its verdicts in two cases (C 124/13 and C 125/13) on regulation 1243/2012 modifying the long-term plan for cod stocks (see EUROPE 11444).
For the rest, the EP enshrined the report adopted by the 'Fisheries' commission of the EP. It argues the urgent need to establish a coherent raft of technical measures for the principal basins, taking account of their specific natures. In view of the landing obligation in force since 1 January 2015, which will be rolled out to all fish stocks by 2019, the EP states that the provisions on the technical measures must be “flexible enough to take into consideration the real-time evolution of the fisheries” and leave the fishing sector more at liberty to implement new technology in the selectivity of fishing gear. Finally, the EP takes the view that the provisional validity of the delegated acts on the discards plan, including changes to the minimum conservation reference sizes, should by no means be allowed to go past the limit of three years and that these should be replaced as necessary with a multi-annual plan, which must in turn be adopted as soon as possible. The EP and the Council of the EU are currently negotiating the cod plan in the Baltic Sea. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)