Dismissing the current EU Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) as ”a fiasco, according to many”, a gathering of Nordic politicians has said that their own “working” solutions could set an example for the next CFP.
The Environment and Natural Resources Committee of the Nordic Council, a cooperation between Sweden, Denmark and Finland and EU non-members but huge fisheries nations Norway and Iceland, said it will be one of the parties to answer to the Commission’s call for input on its Green Paper published in April.
“The new CFP must, among other things, deal with the problems caused by overfishing and discards, and the Nordic nations should present their solutions, that do work, to the EU”, said Asmund Kristoffersen from the Norwegian Storting (Parliament), the Committee chairman.
The Nordic Fisheries ministers will meet in Iceland in July within the frame of the Nordic Council of Ministers cooperation, and are expected to then start work on their own suggestions to the EU Commission.
The Environment and Natural Resources Committee of the Nordic Council now said they welcomed that initiative, but stressed that many issues, including that of discards, cannot wait until the new CFP is in place in 2013, and called for those Nordic Ministers in the EU community – Sweden, Denmark and Finland – to remain active in this field “throughout the whole EU process”.