Verbatim report of proceedings

Tuesday, 22 February 2005 - Strasbourg

2. Request for urgent procedure

Proposal for a Council regulation amending Regulation (EC) No 2792/1999 as regards a specific action for transfers of vessels to countries hit by the tsunami in 2004

(COM(2005)0036 – C6-0036/2005 – 2005/0005(CNS))

  Swoboda (PSE). – (DE) Mr President, although I very much support this request for urgent procedure, I would, however, like to point out that care needs to be taken in implementing this proposal not to destroy the local economy, especially the fishing industry. Subject to that proviso, we support this proposal and the request for urgent procedure.

  Kauppi (PPE-DE). – Mr President, my point of order is not about the vote on tsunami vessels but about interpretation problems in Parliament. Yesterday I spoke here in plenary. I had a two-minute speech and my political message was totally turned upside down by the interpreters. It made me look stupid. My colleagues could not understand a word I was saying in Finnish.

This is a constant problem for all the small language groups in Parliament. I shall not use Finnish any more in plenary if the result is that my political message is turned upside down. The same thing happened at the start of this sitting with Polish, a very nice language. Interpretation is not up to its task and this is a terrific problem for this House. I want this noted for the record.

  President. Your concerns will be noted in the record, Mrs Kauppi. I understand why you spoke in English rather than Finnish. It is a serious matter and we shall look into it.

  Morillon (ALDE). – (FR) Mr President, the chairman of the Committee on Fisheries will let you know how much we appreciate this request for urgent procedure. We have followed what Commissioner Borg has done since the tragedy took place and have supported him. On a practical level, we shall hold an extraordinary meeting of the Committee on Fisheries at 5.30 p.m. in order to decide whether each measure, as Mr Swoboda said, is in the meeting’s best interests. In principle, however, and I believe that this reflects the opinion of most Members, I am entirely in favour of the urgent procedure.

  Schlyter (Verts/ALE). (SV) Mr President, we have now heard two speakers in favour and, according to the rules, we are entitled to hear one speaker against. Let us firstly agree that everyone wants to give aid as quickly as possible in the most efficient way possible. I would, however, advise against urgent procedure.

It is a nice idea, that of exporting old fishing vessels, but it would not work very well. The FAO has still not received any lists of the vessels countries want. Moreover, it is warning against problems involving incorrect equipment and unduly high capacity. These matters must firstly be investigated.

What is more, a conference of the regional fishing organisations held a meeting last week in Sumatra, involving representatives from, for example, Indonesia, Thailand and Sri Lanka. They are opposed to the export of old vessels. They would rather have help developing their local shipyards and fishing fleets. In order to obtain a proposal that works and that is just what is needed, usual procedures should be used so that local considerations can better be put into the equation. We need more dialogue with the FAO and local fishermen before we are ready to vote.

(Parliament agreed to urgent procedure)

Proposal for a Council regulation imposing certain specific restrictive measures directed against certain persons and entities in view of the situation in Côte d’Ivoire

(COM(2004)0842 – C6-0023/2005 – 2004/0286(CNS))

  Cavada (ALDE). – (FR) Mr President, in adopting this report, the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs of course supported the Council’s request for urgent procedure, but at the same time called on the Council, by means of an amendment to the legislative resolution and to the recital in the regulation, to provide every opportunity for diplomacy before finally adopting the text. Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I therefore invite this House to follow the suggestion made by the committee that I have the honour to chair, a suggestion that was also unanimously supported by the Committee on Development.

From a procedural point of view, and in order to pre-empt any disputes from third parties, I ask you to draw the Council’s attention to the need, at the legislative consultation stage, to forward complete texts to Parliament, including annexes.

(Parliament agreed to urgent procedure)