On Thursday 18 January in Strasbourg, the European Parliament is set to vote in favour of the prudent use of tariff quotas for volumes of seafood products from third countries, following criticism by European fishers of the dubious reputation of certain third country suppliers (see EUROPE 13302/18).
By adopting next week the report (https://aeur.eu/f/ado ) by Nuno Melo (EPP, Portuguese) calling for stronger measures against illegal fishing (see EUROPE 13310/19), the European Parliament is expected to call on the European Commission and Member States to refrain from granting preferential market access to nations associated with illegal fisheries practices and serious labour law violations, including the use of forced labour.
The European Parliament will argue in favour of a truly level playing field between seafood produced in the European Union and in third countries. Thus, the autonomous tariff quota instrument (designed to guarantee an adequate supply of fishery products to the industry) “should be employed exclusively in cases where the seafood supply for EU markets is insufficient”. Furthermore, this instrument should not be used to import products from ‘pirate fisheries’ or to “exert pressure on the prices of EU-produced goods”. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)