Verbatim report of proceedings

Wednesday, 28 October 2015 - Strasbourg

7.4. Provisions for fishing in the GFCM (General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean) Agreement area (A8-0295/2015 - Gabriel Mato) (vote)

   Commission's Statements

Transitional national measures

The Commission takes note of the decision of the European Parliament and the Council to allow Member States to keep existing derogations related to red coral harvesting without any time limit, and to provide for new derogations to be granted during a transitional period again without clear cut-off date.

The Commission considers that, by their nature, derogations and/or transitional measures can only be temporary and that the unlimited exceptional regimes agreed between the co-legislators may put the Union in a position where it is not able to ensure that its international obligations towards the GFCM are fully respected.

In the event that the above mentioned risks should materialize, the Commission will submit proposals for appropriate measures in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Treaty.

In any event, the Commission emphasises that any decision in this case will not prejudice the Commission position in relation to other rules on derogations and/or transitional regimes.

Final date for use of ROVs (Remotely Operated underwater Vehicles)

With regards to the final date of 31/12/2015, agreed by the European Parliament and the Council for authorised use of ROVs for observation and prospection of red coral, the Commission takes note of the decision of the co-legislators to interpret the words "until 2015" in paragraph 3a) of recommendation GFCM/35/2011/2, as "until 31 December 2015", thus deviating substantially from the Commission's proposal to consider only the time period before 2015, until 31 December 2014.

Having already stressed that, by their nature, derogations can only be temporary, the Commission recalls that also the FAO Legal Service had expressed the view that only the time limit before 2015 should be considered. In the light of this, the Commission will assess if appropriate initiatives need to be taken in order to clarify the Union's position on the issue of ROVs within the GFCM.