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Parliamentary question - E-005442/2016Parliamentary question
E-005442/2016

Socioeconomic impact of Brexit on the Galician fisheries sector and abolition of the ‘relative stability’ principle, which discriminates against the Galician fleet

Question for written answer E-005442-16
to the Commission
Rule 130
Josu Juaristi Abaunz (GUE/NGL)

Since the Spanish state joined the EU, the Galician fisheries sector has been subject to the ‘relative stability’ principle. The object of this system, which is based on past catch levels, is to ensure that the fishing effort authorised for the main commercial species in each Member State remains at a given set percentage; the system entered into force in 1983 and was supposed to apply until 2011. The Galician fisheries sector has been very hard hit because fishing quotas were allocated on the basis of historic rights as they stood three years before Galicia, a fishing power — and in this case the main loser — was incorporated into the system. Spain has had to accept an unfair allocation, 4% of European catches; to this day its fishing quotas are far below its fishing capacity.

If the United Kingdom were to leave the EU as a result of the Brexit referendum, the EU would have to gauge the resulting socioeconomic impact on the fisheries sector and would therefore need to waive the relative stability principle in order that this form of discrimination against the Galician fleet could be eliminated at the outset.

When and how does the EU intend to analyse the socioeconomic impact of Brexit on fisheries? When will the Commission do away with this discriminatory principle?