The Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the EU suggested on Wednesday 1 December to offer some concessions to the European Parliament in the inter-institutional negotiations on the Regulation reforming the rules on fisheries control.
The negotiations are conducted in different (19) sequences, according to the Articles of the Controls Regulation (see EUROPE 12742/16).
Administrative Board of the Vigo agency. Ahead of the negotiating trilogue on 7 December, the Slovenian Presidency says in a document seen by EUROPE that the most intense negotiations on sequences 1-6 have been on the composition of the Administrative Board of the European Fisheries Control Agency and on the definitions and approach to fishing vessels and catches.
“It became increasingly obvious that granting the Parliament a seat on the Agency’s Administrative Board together with aligning the Agency’s Regulation with horizontal rules on decentralised agencies would allow agreeing on numerous other provisions, including the topic of fishing and catching vessels”, explains the Slovenian Presidency.
Regarding the Regulation on illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, Parliament accepts the changes proposed in the EU Council position (https://bit.ly/3x2rglD ).
On the basis of the mandate presented on Wednesday to the representatives of the Member States to the EU (Coreper), the Slovenian Presidency explains that it will in principle defend the EU Council’s position on most of the provisions of these sequences (1-6). However, it seeks to have “some flexibility” to address some of Parliament’s concerns.
Negotiations will continue in early 2022 on this dossier, and the hope is to reach an agreement between EU institutions on controls by the end of June 2022, under the French Presidency of the EU Council.
Link to the Slovenian document: https://bit.ly/31i5DTI (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)