Brussels, 15/06/2016 (Agence Europe) - Negotiators from the European institutions failed on Tuesday 14 June to come to a compromise on the proposal on deep-water fishing activities (see EUROPE 11571).
Sources have revealed that there was a lot of movement, bringing positions closer, on some important issues such as banning trawling at depths of more than 800 metres and the principle of freezing the footprint (limiting fishing to areas that were fished between 2009 and 2011).
Agreement could not be reached, however, between the Commission, Parliament rapporteur Isabelle Thomas (S&D, France) and the Dutch Presidency of the Council of the EU on the matter as a whole. The reason for this was the widely differing positions of the European Parliament and the Council on observers on board vessels to monitor fishing operations and the state of the deep-water fish stocks.
For the negotiators, the goal will still be to reach agreement before the end of the Dutch presidency on 30 June. At this stage, no decision has been taken on convening a possible final trialogue meeting between now and the end of the month. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)