Brussels, 09/01/2001 (Agence Europe) - The forewarned observers expected long and difficult Euro-Moroccan negotiations on fishing, but the development of the episode today leads to question even the existence of a scenario. After notably progress achieved, Monday, over various very important technical issues such as the type of nets used, the fishing zones or even the volume of obligatory landings in Moroccan ports as well as the very delicate problem of possibilities of fishing given to the European fleet, the Moroccan authorities returned on Tuesday to the negotiating table with an offer that did not take into account the talks of the eve.
Following these two days of negotiations with the Moroccan authorities, at ministerial level, Commissioner Franz Fischler made the following declaration: "Morocco backtracked on several points and unfortunately reversed some of their positions of yesterday. The unacceptable result of all this is that the latest offer from our Moroccan partners is substantially worse than the one that was on the table yesterday". Then continuing: "To be frank, on this basis it is not possible to conclude the talks. I have therefore, invited my counterpart to reconsider his position (…) These negotiations have been already difficult to say the least, but they become impossible if offers and agreements are put in question one day to the next. My message is clear: we want an agreement, and we are prepared to pay a price which is fair. But we do not want an agreement at any price. Our financial resources are limited. The Council of Ministers gave the Commission a clear-cut mandate. The financial compensation the EU is prepared to pay must be proportional to the fishing opportunities for our fleet. In other words, less fish means less money (…) I think that we made good progress in recent days and it would be a pity if we could not continue further down this positive road. We are now in the decisive phase of the negotiations. I can only hope that our Moroccan friends return to a negotiating spirit of reason and seriousness. Then a fair and balanced agreement will be possible. The ball is now in the Moroccan court".