Charlina Vitcheva, Director General in the European Commission’s Directorate General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (DG MARE), was very critical on Monday 22 February on the outcome of the vote on the ‘Control Regulation’ in the European Parliament’s Committee on Fisheries (see EUROPE 12652/7).
During an exchange of views in Parliament’s Committee on Fisheries on the priorities for 2021 of this DG, Mrs Vitcheva said she hoped that an agreement between the co-legislators could be reached by the end of 2021 on the text revising the procedures for the control of fishing activities.
She regretted that MEPs had not voted in favour of the mandatory introduction of on-board cameras before the plenary vote next week.
She expressed concern about certain amendments which result in a “loosening” of the rules on margins of tolerance when declaring catches. The risk would be “under-reporting of overfishing”, she warned. These Parliament amendments undermine not only the principles of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), but also the EU position at international level. “Our credibility is at stake”, she says.
These weaknesses in the control rules could be used by the UK to allow fewer EU vessels access to UK waters in the future, noted the Director General of DG MARE.
Finally, she deplored the fact that the rules on controls for large vessels would be relaxed, while those applied to small vessels would be strengthened. “This would be unacceptable”, said Mrs Vitcheva.
“We are doing our best to achieve a majority in Parliament”, replied the rapporteur on this dossier, Clara Aguilera (S&D, Spain). She said she would like to talk to the various shadow rapporteurs to see how to “perfect” the text. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)