The next European Parliament will decide how it intends to examine a proposal to relax certain rules on multiannual fish stock management plans, the European Parliament’s Committee on Fisheries agreed on Tuesday 9 April.
Pierre Karleskind (Renew Europe, French) presented a working document on the proposal on which the European Parliament refused to vote as a matter of urgency (see EUROPE 13329/20).
“I’m not convinced that removing the safeguard clauses and leaving stocks at low levels will allow fishing fleets to be profitable in the long term. Sometimes drastic measures have to be taken, and anchovy in the Bay of Biscay was a case in point”, said Mr Karleskind. “We don’t understand the urgency”, said Clara Aguilera (S&D, Spanish). Spanish EPP members Francisco Millán Mon and Gabriel Mato supported the proposal and would have liked the European Parliament to accept the EU Council’s request for an urgent procedure. The Greens/EFA Group does not want the 5% rule to be abolished. The Commission is proposing to abolish the 5% rule in certain multiannual plans (Baltic Sea, North Sea and Western Waters). (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)