Coreper, the committee of member states’ permanent representatives to the EU, has formally adopted the Council’s negotiating mandate on the multi-annual plan for demersal stocks in the North Sea. Negotiations with the European Parliament will, therefore, soon be able to begin.
The text approved by Coreper remains very close to the general approach adopted by the Council in April (see EUROPE 11773). The member states want to restrict the scope of the plan to a number of major target...