Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-10-27-Speech-5-013"
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"en.20001027.1.5-013"2
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"Mr President, I think the most important thing at the moment is that for almost a year we have been starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel and that in three days time – next Monday –, we will know what to expect, whether the fisheries cooperation with Morocco will continue and what type of cooperation this will be.
This House has been quite rightly criticised along with the Commission regarding the agreement with Morocco, which from the outset has been addressed with tremendous hesitation and naivety. It has taken eleven months to arrive at the inflexible positions that we have today and the meeting on the 30th, and in this respect we should value the latest measures from Commissioner Fischler, the results of his trip to Morocco on the 26th of last month and the high level meetings that took place, including the one with the King himself.
From this trip we can deduce that the meeting on the 30th will not just be one more and that finally, a Moroccan delegation will be present in Brussels with negotiating and decision-making powers. At least, that is what we can hope for at the moment, and from this alone we can be confident that fisheries relations with Morocco will be re-established as soon as possible and in the best possible conditions for both parties, because a fisheries scenario for southern Europe is unthinkable without satisfactory relations between both sides of the Mediterranean, while the needless sacrificing of a fleet that has contributed so much to the development of fishing in Morocco is unthinkable too.
The resolution upon which we are preparing to vote does not, and cannot, contain anything new, since it is being voted on just three days before a key date for negotiations. As this key date is so close, I believe that we must be extremely careful with what is drawn up. There is one point in the resolution that has been interpreted in very different ways, some of which are truly ridiculous and false and have been published in certain sectors of the media.
I am therefore particularly keen to make it clear that if there is anything that sets the PPE-DE Group apart, it is not only in supporting, defending and fostering fisheries agreements, but also in firmly promoting their extension. However, in no way can this mean that the PPE-DE Group is opposed to private fisheries agreements, simply because opposing them would mean condemning half of the Community fleet. I would very much like to know if anyone is really opposed to this solution, and how, and on what grounds, this will be explained to the fishing sector.
I believe we are here to clear the way for the future of Community fishing, not to block it. Private agreements – of which there are many in the Member States and with many third countries – have yielded excellent results, both in maintaining Community employment and in providing fisheries products to the European Union. For example, we only need look at the case of Namibia, South Africa, Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Ecuador, Iceland, Mauritania, Morocco itself and many others.
Furthermore, when we complain day after day about the fact that negotiations seem to be falling by the wayside, both the existing agreements and new ones, and the lack of interest that both the Commission and sections of the Council seem to be displaying – and here we have the recent cases of Angola, Cape Verde and Kiribati –, it is quite simply suicidal to block a path which is a solid base for the fisheries activities of the Community fleet, and could be even more so in the future.
The two approaches are therefore completely justifiable, as both are based on the fundamental aim of conserving resources. We are therefore defending the responsibility that lies with us in the bilateral agreements and in private agreements, where the activity of the fleet is regulated – and will be even more so in future – by regional fisheries organisations such as ICCAT, NAFO and Camelar.
I have nothing more to say, Mr President, except to express my hopes for the best before the meeting on the 30th."@en1
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