Brussels, 30/06/2008 (Agence Europe) - On 17 June, the European Commission adopted a report on the functioning of the regional consultative councils (RCC), which were set up to enable the common fisheries policy (CFP) to benefit from the knowledge and experience of fishermen and other stakeholders.
The process of setting the RCCs in place has taken more than three years and is still not complete. On 30 June 2007, six of the seven RCCs had been created (the Mediterranean RCC is still not in place). The Commission believes that the current legal framework is "generally satisfactory". However, it suggests a number of short-term actions to improve the functioning of the RCCs without establishing new legal rules. The result of this is that the Commission will: - encourage the involvement of a large number of stakeholders, by promoting the image and role of the organisation; - improve the RCCs' access to scientific data and evidence; - involve the RCCs in the reflection on the long-term development of the CFP, particularly by means of specific study visits; - improve the consultation process, by involving the RCCs at an early stage, thus giving them sufficient time to respond and providing them with clearer and more accessible documents; - propose assessment criteria to improve the compatibility of the opinions of the RCCs with the objectives of the CFP. The Commission will also look into organising annual debriefing sessions with the RCCs in order to see how their opinions are being followed up; - improve the visibility of the RCCs, using the internet site of the Commission; - propose guidelines on the procedural rules and financial management of Community co-funding.
Despite problems encountered during the launch phase, the RCCs have already made a valuable contribution to the development of the CFP, the Commission concluded. (L.C./trans.fl)