Verbatim report of proceedings

Wednesday, 12 July 2023 - Strasbourg

8.3. Fishing in the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) Agreement area (A9-0136/2022 - Ladislav Ilčić) (vote)

– Before the vote:

  Ladislav Ilčić, rapporteur. – Madam President, dear colleagues, this report is not controversial, and I believe it will be supported by a vast majority of the Members. However, I am addressing you because this report is a good indicator of the extremely bad and belittling attitude of the Commission towards Parliament, and this concerns all of us, no matter which group we belong to.

Today we are transposing decisions which were made by the Commission on the GFCM five years ago and have in the meantime entered into force. This is quite senseless. In addition to being slow, the Commission often misuses the right to sign international agreements with third countries, so if the Commission does not like Parliament’s point of view, then the Commission goes to some international organisation, like the GFCM, and makes the decision there – the same decisions which didn’t go through in this Parliament.

Then, five or six years later, the Commission comes to Parliament so that we transpose these decisions into European legislation – the same decisions which we rejected five or six years ago.

This is really a threat to the basic principles of EU, which should bring decisions within a trilogue. Therefore, I invite you to consider this topic in your groups and to contribute together to the strengthening of democracy and the trust of our voters in the European institutions. We, as their directly elected representatives, must not let the Commission, which is not directly elected by voters, to push us aside so rudely.

  Virginijus Sinkevičius, Member of the Commission. – Madam President, honourable Members, the Commission is currently preparing a proposal for implementing the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean recommendation stemming from the GFCM annual session in 2021 and 2022, with a view to presenting this proposal to the European Parliament and the Council in a timely manner.