– Before the vote:

  Pat the Cope Gallagher (ALDE). - Mr President, on behalf of the Committee on Fisheries I would like to request the postponement of the vote on my technical report, after serious consideration by the coordinators at the meeting yesterday, convened by the Chair of the committee, Gabriel Mato Adrover.

The purpose of deferring the vote is to once again highlight the difficulty that Parliament is experiencing with the Council on the issue of long-term management plans. These plans are vitally important in terms of protecting fishing resources and ensuring the livelihoods of communities depending on fishing. No progress has been made on these important plans since the introduction of the Lisbon Treaty in 2009, and this is due to the lack of interest by successive presidencies since then.

So no progress has been made. We are now calling on the incoming Irish Presidency to deal with this issue in a pragmatic and realistic manner. The coordinators look forward to the meeting with the Irish minister tomorrow morning and to the minister’s presentation of his priorities to the Fisheries Committee next week.

The Fisheries Committee has put a lot of effort into this over a sustained period, and we want to ensure we can make progress. The Council has to respect Parliament, but has not done so over the past years. While this report is not adopted, anyone who has any fears should note that the basic regulation of 1998 remains in place.

Unfortunately if the Irish Presidency is unable to map a way forward for Parliament, we will have no alternative but to block other reports which are in the pipeline, whether it may be the basic regulation or the regulation on the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund.

In conclusion, I may have a similar request in February if we do not make progress in the meantime, but I do not want to pre-judge the outcome of our discussions with the Presidency. I request a roll-call vote on the issue of postponing the adoption of my report.

  Chris Davies (ALDE). - Mr President, I very strongly endorse what the rapporteur has said. If we are to secure substantial reform of the common fisheries policy to ensure that fish stocks are allowed to recover and secure a good future for fish and for fishermen, it is essential that we get this issue of long-term management plans sorted out. The dispute with the Council must be resolved.