EU Fisheries Ministers hope to reach a political agreement on the evening of Monday 22 March or Tuesday 23 March on a decision to extend the provisional 2021 Total Allowable Catches (TACs) for stocks jointly managed by the EU and the UK until the end of July (see EUROPE 12682/4).
On Monday, the Fisheries Council took stock of the state of negotiations with the United Kingdom and the measures to be taken to extend the provisional quotas, which expire at the end of March, by 4 months.
‘Trilateral’ meetings (Portuguese Presidency, Commission and Member States) took place on Monday and a new compromise text on these provisional quotas was to be presented on Monday evening or Tuesday morning.
The European Commission is currently consulting with the UK on behalf of the EU to determine the final volumes of these catches for the whole of 2021 (see EUROPE 12681/8).
Quotas are fixed for the time being until the end of March. The Commission hopes to reach an agreement by the end of March on the final quotas for 2021, but due to the procedures (adoption of the texts), the ministers must adopt urgent measures to avoid a legal vacuum on 1 April.
Discussions focus on specific stocks, the seasonality of certain activities and the effects of ‘choke stocks’.
In December 2020, EU ministers had set provisional TACs covering the period from January to the end of March for fish stocks that are shared with the UK.
Bluefin tuna. The EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement provides for a concession to the UK of 0.25% of the EU bluefin tuna TAC. The UK had a bluefin tuna TAC for by-catch. However, there are heated debates about the distribution of this concession (only 48 tonnes) among the EU countries. Italy, Greece, Croatia, Malta and Cyprus have complained that they are required to give part of their quota back to the UK. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)