Brussels, 27/01/2004 (Agence Europe) - On a visit to Galicia on Monday, Franz Fischler, Commissioner responsible for Agriculture, Rural Development and Fisheries, said that the European Commission would adopt his proposal to set up a Community Fisheries Controls Agency based in Vigo. He explained that this proposal should be adopted at the end of the year or in 2005 if they wanted the agency to be operational by 2006.
The Commissioner expalined that the tasks and mandates of the Agency will be defined in close co-operation with Member States. Its main task will be to ensure operational co-ordination of the deployment of the pooled national means of inspection and surveillance. Inspections will be assured by multinational teams according to inspection strategies, including the setting of benchmarks and common priorities, to be adopted bin the EU. Mr Fischler noted that his multinational inspection teams would create a climate of mutual confidence in the uniform application of Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) rules.