Fisheries
By Anne Eckstein
Discussions on the draft brief to negotiate a new fisheries protocol between the European Union and Morocco are at a standstill in the Council’s fisheries working group. Since they are unable to break the impasse, the experts have decided to pass the matter on to the next highest level, namely the member states’ permanent representatives (Coreper), who are set to discuss it on 1 and/or 3 February.
Several delegations have proposed changes to the draft mandate presented by the European Commission in early January. France and Spain drew up a joint proposal, while the Netherlands and the United Kingdom each presented their own amendments. The Danish Council Presidency presented a compromise, on 25 January, which takes these different ideas into account. It proposes the deletion of the explicit reference to the Western Sahara from the negotiating directives (requested by France and Spain) although the United Kingdom would have liked to see this reference strengthened. On the other hand, a reference to the United Nations proposed by London was added to the text. A reference to the management plans adopted by regional fisheries management organisations was also added at the request of the Netherlands.
Under the Commission’s draft, from the environmental point of view the future fisheries protocol would be based on surplus resources, which implies revision of the different categories of vessels and fishing opportunities (nomenclature and quotas). The draft also proposes to apply the ‘value for money’ principle to adapt the EU’s financial contribution to fishing opportunities and to demand that Morocco comply with international law and report on its use of EU funds for the populations concerned, including the populations of the Western Sahara.
