Brussels, 27/11/2002 (Agence Europe) - Europêche (the association of national organisations of fishing enterprises in the EU) and the fisheries section of COGECA (General Committee of Agricultural Cooperatives in the EU) express concern about the proposals on total allowable catches (TACs) and quotas for 2003 that are to be adopted early December. They have expressed "consternation" at the European Commission's "overreaction to the most recent scientific reports on the state of fish stocks" and recall that the problems affecting cod do not generally apply to other species. "The media and political hype and the excessive provocation of Commissioner Fischler hardly contributed to calming things down during the Commission's announcement on 21 November 2002 of its approach to the TACs and quotas package for the year 2003", write the professional organisations, which warn that, if these proposals were adopted as they stand by the Council "it would lead to the bankruptcy of a large part of the sector and to chaos in the ports". Europêche and Cogeca point out that the Fisheries Council of 16 December is expected to give its stance on the TACs and quotas for 2003, reform of fisheries policy, plans for the reconstitution of cod and hake stocks, and the fisheries agreement between Norway and the EU. "With such a hotchpotch of subjects and with the compromises that they will lead to, the whole thing promises to be chaos and may well turn into a horse-trading session to the detriment of the future of fishermen and their businesses", the organisations say. They call on the Council to: - take into account the effort already made by the sector, which will not be able to accept TAC variations of over 15% from one year to the next, except if it concerns species subject to a specific recovery plan; - evaluate the socio-economic consequences of measures finalised; - provide for financial compensation (from the Community budget) for the compulsory closure of certain activities; - and introduce reinforced, uniform inspections an sanctions to deal with those failing to respect the rules.
Plenary session of the European Parliament