Brussels, 23/10/2007 (Agence Europe) - At the Agriculture and Fisheries Council of Tuesday 23 October, Spain explained that the closure of red tuna fisheries in the Mediterranean and the Eastern Atlantic decided by the European Commission on 21 September 2007 had caused considerable economic harm to fishing enterprises which had not had time to fully use up their quotas. Spain has asked the European Commission to give it extra fishing quotas in 2008 to make up for the unused quotas for 2007. This idea was backed by the other countries which have not yet used up their 2007 red tuna quotas, namely Greece, Malta and Cyprus. French and Italian fishermen have overshot their total allowable catches for 2007, leading the European Commission to close down red tuna fishing earlier than expected. France has pledged to punish the overfishing culprits and says cooperation among all member states is required to combat overfishing. Italy says it ended red tuna fishing at the end of July when it saw that it had used up its quota. The EU red tuna quotas will be decided at the 9-18 November meeting of the International Committee for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT). In December 2007 or January 2008, the EU will negotiate how the total allowable catch is to be shared out among the member states, taking account of the French and Italian overshoots and compensation to companies affected by the premature closure of red tuna fishing this year. (L.C.)