Brussels, 12/12/2002 (Agence Europe) - The Agriculture and Fisheries Ministers of EU Member States are meeting from Monday to Thursday (and also possibly Friday) under the chairmanship of Mariann Fischer Boel to seek an agreement on reform proposals for the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) and to resolve the cod crisis by adopting a drastic stock recovery plan. The Agriculture/Fisheries Council should also finalise total allowable catches (TACs) and quotas for 2003.
The meeting will begin on Monday at 11h00 with public deliberations on two subjects relating to food safety, namely a proposal on hygiene rules and another on the gradual phasing out of the last antibiotics used in animal feed. The fishing marathon will be interrupted on Tuesday afternoon to tackle several agricultural issues such as the proposals on the new Community regime for cereal imports (which should be adopted: see yesterday's EUROPE, p.12) or the strategy for development of the production of organic foodstuffs.
The main points on the agenda can be summarised as follows:
CFP reform. The Presidency will probably submit at the last moment a compromise proposal on the package of proposals (structural actions, measures for scrapping vessels and rules for the management and conservation of resources). For the time being, discussions within expert groups or the Committee of Permanent Representatives (Coreper) have only made headway regarding certain technical aspects mainly concerning multiannual stock management plans. The Member States and Commissioner Franz Fischler are sticking to their positions on the subject of a "war of nerves", namely the fate to be reserved for public aid for renewal and modernisation. It is not to be ruled out that the Presidency will propose gradual phasing out of public aid (and not from 2003 as the Commission advocates), through more stringent rules on withdrawal of capacities and exemptions for vessels of under 12 metres in length (which concerns 80% of the Italian and Greek fleets). Some sources say the agreement on reform could be found quite rapidly as soon as the cod crisis problem has been solved.
Cod stock recovery plans. The Commission proposals on the cod stock recovery plan in the North Sea, to the west of Scotland and in the Irish Sea, are challenged by most Member States. Only Sweden and Germany recommend going beyond this by imposing a moratorium on cod fishing. Ireland and the United Kingdom greatly insist on the disastrous effects that such measures would have on the fishing community. Ireland, in particular, would like the plan not to be applied in its fishing zone (Irish Sea), just as France would like the Channel to be excluded. Belgium and the Netherlands are opposed to fishing capacity reduction measures being applied to flat fish (sole and plaice). Spain has one essential concern. It would like hake to be excluded from the recovery plan. Denmark expresses reserve because industrial fisheries would also be affected.
TACs and quotas for 2003. The proposals on TACs and quotas are all the more controversial as they comprise major reductions for most species (see details in EUROPE of 12 December, p.11). During Wednesday's Coreper, Member States set forth their main priorities: - whiting, anchovy and megrim for Spain; - sole and plaice for Belgium and the Netherlands; - sole, anchovy, nephrops, whiting, cod, plaice and horse mackerel for France; - Norway lobster, hake and anchovy for Portugal; - hake, lobster for the United Kingdom; - flat fish for the Netherlands; - and plaice, cod and Norway lobster for Denmark.