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Following an examination of the draft conclusions by Mieczyslaw STRUCK (PL/PPE), reporter on the legislative proposals regarding the CFP reform, Javier GARAT, President of Europêche, has made an intervention today at the Committee on Natural resources of the Committee of the Regions of the EU.
"The UE will sink if the policy persists in promoting the closure of enterprises and related job losses. It is high time to go beyond the purely ecological debate and take into account the socio-economic impact of the proposed measures ," is the message being delivered by the President of Europêche, who has underlined how the Commission has dramatised the situation in the fishing industry and the state of stocks in Europe.
He said the aims to reach the Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY) by 2015 and the radical elimination of discards were simply not realistic. The elimination of fleet aids will also have an extremely negative impact on the sector. The efforts made by fishermen and Member States were not taken into account. For this reason, Javier GARAT asks Commissioner DAMANAKI to adopt a more positive approach as he says the industry is deeply frustrated.
After summarising the main critics of Europêche on the axis of the reform of the CFP which are known to date, the President of Europêche has indicated that many imprecise elements on some important matters should be clarified as soon as possible, such as the regionalisation of the CFP, the discards policy, MSY and transferable fishing concessions.
He also said that Europêche would have a close look at the Commission proposal on the new European Maritime and Fisheries Fund expected to be published in the coming days.
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