The members of the European Parliament’s fisheries committee held an initial discussion on Monday 26 February on the draft own initiative report by Clara Eugenia Aguilera García (S&D, Spain) on the optimisation of the value chain in fishing in the European Union.
Aguilera García stresses, in particular, the key role of producer organisations (POs). She proposes to make it simpler to set up POs and to further empower them. In her view, a greater degree of structure and association must be promoted in the fishing sector and inter-branch organisations, producer organisations and transnational associations of producer organisations established. She stressed that she hoped that the European Commission proposals on the food supply chain, including on unfair trade practices, expected on 11 April, would bring progress in this area.
Aguilera García also called on the Commission and the member states to set up expert groups “whose task will be to analyse and propose corrective measures in relation to the use of the various European Maritime and Fisheries Fund appropriations” which are under-used.
By November 2017, of the €7.9 billion in funding available for the period from 2014 to 2020, only 12% had been used.
The committee generally welcomed its rapporteur’s proposals. Some, including her fellow Spanish MEP Izaskun Bilbao Barandica (ALDE), felt that the main measure to be put in place was labelling of origin of fisheries products. Aguilera García said that she supported this proposal.
The committee is scheduled to put the draft report to the vote on 23 April, then the plenary session will vote on its adoption in May. (Original version in French)