Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-03-10-Speech-1-192"
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"en.20080310.22.1-192"2
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"Mr President, let me start by extending my gratitude to the Committee on Fisheries and in particular the rapporteur, Mr Capoulas Santos, for his report.
Regarding the proposal to reject the fisheries agreements in general on the grounds that they are not sustainable, it should be recalled that the Council, in its July 2004 conclusions, indicated that the aim of the new fisheries partnership agreements (FPAs) is to contribute to the sustainable management of fisheries resources. As a matter of fact, FPAs only provide for access to stocks that are not fully exploited by the national fleet of the particular country in question. The Commission believes that the FPAs can and do provide a political and legal framework that assists the efforts of partner countries in implementing a policy of sustainable and responsible fishing in their waters.
Finally, with respect to the proposal that vessels should pay the total cost of the agreement in proportion to their catches, let me just say that we have established a reasonable cost-sharing balance between shipowner contributions and the Community compensation. This approach is in line with the July 2004 Council conclusions on fisheries partnership agreements, on which Parliament gave its opinion. In our system, the shipowner licence fees are indeed calculated on the basis of their respective catches.
On 23 May 2007, the European Community and the Republic of Guinea-Bissau initialled a fisheries partnership agreement for a period of four years. This agreement forms part of the series of EC ‘tuna agreements’ in the Atlantic Ocean.
The financial contribution is fixed at EUR 7 million per year. Of this financial contribution, 35%, or EUR 2.45 million, is earmarked to support the definition and implementation of a fisheries sector policy in Guinea-Bissau, with a view to introducing responsible and sustainable fishing. In addition, the European Union will pay an annual specific contribution of EUR 500 000 to improve sanitary conditions in the fisheries sector and to strengthen monitoring, control and surveillance in the waters of Guinea-Bissau.
In addition to the total amount of EUR 7.5 million, the protocol also contains a special financial provision for a supplementary allocation of EUR 1 million maximum per year, aiming at improving the use of fishing opportunities by ship owners.
This new protocol provides fishing possibilities for shrimps and for fish, in particular cephalopods, up to a total tonnage of 4 400 t per year for each of the two categories. Furthermore, the agreement covers licences for 19 tuna seiners, 14 pole-and-line vessels and 4 surface longliners.
The agreement gives the Community a solid legal and political framework for monitoring the activities of the European Union fleet in the Guinea-Bissau fishing area. It also allows the Community to support the development of the sector in that country, to the mutual benefit of both parties.
Turning to the amendments proposed, let me state that, whereas in many instances we share the objectives outlined therein, I am unable to accept them for the following reasons.
I fully share the concern that the flow of information provided to the European Parliament should be as complete as possible. However, the Commission already provides all the requested information, in line with the current interinstitutional arrangements. Moreover, every evaluation report, as well as the reports on the results of negotiations and of Joint Committee meetings, is immediately transmitted to the Committee on Fisheries. In addition, I myself inform the Committee on Fisheries regularly of the state of play of international negotiations in special, restricted ‘closed-door’ sessions.
The issue of reporting requirements by the fleet is also being dealt with, since we have proposed a legal basis that will allow the Commission to refuse licence requests on the grounds of poor reporting from Member States. This draft regulation is currently going through the adoption procedure in the institutions."@en1
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