Today, the Environment Committee (ENVI) in the European Parliament requested Associated Committee status on CFP reform, referring to the strong environmental focus of the proposal.
In the European Parliament, according to their Rules of Procedure, a committee can request associated status if it feels that an issue dealt with by another committee falls within its competence. Formally, it then requests application of Rule 50 in the Parliament’s Rules of Procedure, referring to details set out in Annex VII.
The Fisheries Committee (PECH) is the designated committee responsible for the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), but in this case the argument is that not only do the proposals contain strong elements of environmental integration, but it is also a matter of ensuring that the new CFP does not undermine existing EU environmental legislation.
The Environment Committee has sent a request to the Chair of the Conference of Committee Chairs at the European Parliament requesting associated status, which would give it more equal status to PECH. Now it will have to be established if the entire or parts of the CFP proposals are considered to fall “almost equally within the competence of two or more committees”. The request will most likely be discussed at the meeting of the Committee of Chairs on 27 September, but the formal decision has to be made by the Conference of Presidents.