23/05/2007 (Agence Europe) - In Strasbourg on Tuesday 22 May, the report by Philippe Morillon (ALDE, France) was adopted by an overwhelming majority (570 votes for, 9 against, with 11 abstentions), thereby approving the proposed new bilateral agreement between the EU and Russia on fisheries and the conservation of the living marine resource in the Baltic Sea. These arrangements, required following the accession, in 2004, of new member states which fish in the Baltic, does not alter the present structure of the Community fleet in the zone or the way in which shared stocks are managed. The EP's only amendment invites the European Commission to bring forward a report assessing the biological, environmental and socio-economic impact of the first EU-Russian bilateral agreement, before it is renewed. (lc)