Nyborg, 10/09/2002 (Agence Europe) - At an Agriculture Council fringe meeting on Monday afternoon in Nyborg, French and Portuguese Ministers, Hervé Gaymard and Armando Sevinate Pinto, announced that the ten Member States which form part of the "Friends of Fishing" group (Spain, France, Ireland, Greece, Italy and Portugal) are expected to present their "counter proposals" to the Commission's draft reforms on the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) at the end of the month. This contribution will focus more precisely on the management of fishing resources and the modernisation of the fishing fleets, which are considered as the main points in the reform proposed by Commissioner Franz Fischler.
Mr Gaymard explained to a group of journalists that the objective was to get something more from the area of fishing resources management than just, "integration of the different control mechanisms" (fishing effort, TAC, closure of fishing areas etc.), by favouring an approach that is based more on scientific opinion and consultation with professions from the sector. The French Minister thought that it was necessary to explain that subsidies for modernising the fishing fleets, when they involved strengthening the security of the boats, would not result in increasing the tonnage and power of the boats themselves and that aid would be within the framework of TAC and quotas.
These counterproposals could be finalised at an informal meeting on 13 September in Lisbon for Director Generals for fishing in these six Member States.