The Parliament's Committee on Fisheries is due to give its opinion on Wednesday 23 January on two reports by Alain Cadec (EPP, France) on the conclusion of the Fisheries Partnership Agreement between the EU and Morocco (see EUROPE 12149).
The Chair of the Parliament’s Fisheries Committee, Mr Cadec, suggests that the Parliament approves the conclusion of this four-year agreement, which sets out the fishing opportunities for 164 EU vessels.
But two Greens/EFA MEPs, Italy's Marco Affronte and Sweden's Linnéa Engström, as well as ALDE MEP Nils Torvalds of Finland, have tabled an amendment refusing to approve this EU/Morocco agreement.
The majority of the amendments tabled on the resolution (more than 80) relate to the sensitive issue of Western Sahara. Maria Lidia Senra Rodríguez (GUE/NGL, Spain) and João Ferreira (GUE/NGL, Portugal) consider the new agreement to be "illegal", as it includes the exploitation of Western Sahara's fisheries resources and because of the possible repercussions on the exercise of the right to self-determination in Western Sahara.
Mr Cadec's draft report notes that provisions are made to ensure that the agreement also benefits local populations and explicitly mentions Western Sahara in the agreement.
It was not possible for the Members of this committee to formulate compromise amendments, so all the amendments will be voted on in the Committee on Fisheries. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)