Virginijus Sinkevičius, the European Commissioner for Fisheries, said on Sunday 12 December that he was counting on the forthcoming French Presidency of the EU Council to get EU Ministers to conclude negotiations on the revision of the fisheries control system.
The EU Fisheries Ministers discussed the state of play of the inter-institutional negotiations on this dossier (see EUROPE 12844/20). There is still a lot to be done, the Commissioner admitted. He stressed the link between an “ambitious” reform of the control system and the requirements of the ‘European Green Deal’, the ‘Farm to Fork’ strategy, and commitments at international level.
Mr Sinkevičius acknowledged the progress made under the Slovenian EU Council Presidency on: - the Fisheries Control Agency; - the modernisation of the IT CATCH certification scheme; - certain definitions and provisions on fishing licences and fishing authorisations. “We also had an initial discussion on the need to include provisions on fishing without a vessel in the Regulation”, noted the Commissioner.
Jože Podgoršek, President-in-Office of the EU Council, recalled that a revised mandate has been agreed regarding the text for further negotiations with the European Parliament.
“France is well aware of the heavy responsibility it will have in pursuing this work”, said the Minister of the Sea, Annick Girardin.
Denmark insisted on the need to control the rules on compulsory landing (end of discarding fish at sea) and said that important issues will be discussed in the next trilogues, such as cameras on board vessels (CCTV), margins of tolerance in the logbook for unsorted catches of small pelagic and industrial species, and sanctions for non-compliance with control rules. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)