On Tuesday, 12 November, the European Parliament Committee on Fisheries voted (by 20 votes to six, with two abstentions) in favour of starting negotiations (trilogues) with the Council of the EU to finalise an agreement on the terms of the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMMF) 2021-2027 (see EUROPE 12277/1).
Some MEPs, including Chris Davies, Chair of the European Parliament Committee on Fisheries (Renew Europe, UK), would have liked to revisit the last European Parliament’s original position by reviewing the text at a second reading (see EUROPE 12208/7). This option was rejected, however.
When he spoke to EUROPE on Monday, 11 November, Davies said that the Council of the EU and the European Parliament will attempt to agree a compromise text, with negotiations expected to end sometime around April 2020. Like the European Commission and a number of NGOs, Davies criticised those aspects of Parliament's position that lead to harmful subsidies to the fishing fleet that increase fishing capacity (help to build new vessels, assistance to buy new engines). “Parliament's position in April was not good and the Council's position is even worse”, Davies said.
While progress has been made in restoring stocks in the Atlantic, he said, “it would appear that we are repeating the mistakes of the past” by increasing fishing capacity and facilitating overfishing.
Davies also finds Parliament's position all the more inconsistent as EU fishing operators say they do not need these subsidies to buy new vessels.
The European Parliament Committee on International Trade even wrote to Mr Davies recently expressing its concerns about Parliament's position on the EMFF, a position that would seem to contradict the position the EU wishes to defend at the WTO in support of removing subsidies for fishing (see EUROPE 12300/14). (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)