Brussels, 23/06/2008 (Agence Europe) - As the EU imports some 80% of fish and timber from the Economic Community of Western African States (ECOWAS), the European Parliament calls on the Council and European Commission to amend European policy on fish and timber imported from these countries to ensure sustainable management of these natural resources. This should be in line with the consistency of development policies that are one of the EU's contributions to achieving the Millennium Development Goals.
These are the main lines of a resolution adopted on Tuesday 17 June in Strasbourg (by 559 votes to 11 and 17 abstentions) on coherence of development policy and the impact that EU exploitation of certain biological natural resources has on the development of West Africa. According to their rapporteur, Frithjof Schmidt, MEPs call on the Commission to present a communication defining the EU's participation and support in present and future financing mechanisms to promote the protection of forests and reduce emissions resulting from deforestation. The Commission and member states are invited to step up the pace of implementation of the EU's FLEGT action plan and of the directive aimed at combating the illegal trade and exploitation of timber, as well as to increase consumption of wood products produced in a sustainable manner. The Parliament also calls on the Commission to present a legislative proposal to prevent the marketing of wood and timber products from illegal sources which lead to the destruction of forests.
On the subject of fisheries, the Parliament urges the Commission to examine the obvious link between the level of immigration from the countries of Western Africa to the Union and the serious decline in these countries' fish stocks. It calls on the Commission and the West African governments to curb illegal fishing and to monitor and control halieutic stocks in order to put an end to the serious decline in fish numbers. The Parliament regrets that the sustainable exploitation of natural biological resources, including fish stocks, is still not considered a priority by these countries.
In negotiation of the economic partnership agreement (EPA) with the countries of West Africa, the Commission is invited to respect the duty of ensuring coherence in EU policies on fish and timber. It does not, however, invite the EU to reduce its fishing activity in the waters off West Africa, noting that, if this were the case, fleets from other countries that do not abide by the same principles of sustainability, would take over.
The raporteur deplores the fact that the EPP, the PES and Liberals refused all criticism regarding the potential threat caused by the enlargement of fishing opportunities through support for setting up joint ventures in this sector. “It is time for the EU to recognise its share of the responsibility in this tragedy and to radically change its policies”, he states, going on to cite the “loss of natural markers” as one of the reasons for the tragedy in which desperate West African migrants take to the sea in tiny dugouts, only to meet their death. (A.N./transl.jl).