On 13 and 14 May, the crucial Council meeting to decide on their final negotiating position on the basic Regulation takes place. In order to bridge the divide between the European institutions, rapporteur from the Parliament, Ulrike Rodust (S&D, DE), wrote to Ministers last week informing them she was willing to make sacrifices “in order to achieve a compromise”.
In February, the European Parliament plenary voted and provided a finalised negotiating mandate on the basic Regulation for rapporteur Ulrike Rodust (S&D, DE) ahead of trilogue negotiations with the Irish Presidency and the Commission.
Since then, the Council has however stuck to their General Approach agreed in June 2012. Only with regard to the issue of discards has an amended position been put forward, and on this a discard reduction plan was preferred by Member States to a ban.
With less than two months left of the Irish Presidency and time running out to secure a reformed CFP, Member States have of late been involved in intensive negotiations amongst themselves to push the reform forward. Much will depend on the outcome of this Council meeting in determining whether a deal will be brokered or if the deadlock will continue into the second half of the year.
Key issues such as the restoration of fish stocks through the MSY principle, the discard ban, capacity management and regionalisation remain unresolved. Moreover, the contentious issue of whether co-decision is required for the setting of fishing limits within long-term management plans has been shelved until a legal decision is reached.
The Rodust olive branch is seen as an attempt to prevent Parliament being responsible for a breakdown in the negotiations, with the ball now back in the Irish Presidency’s court.
The ambition of restoring fish stocks to above Bmsy levels by 2020 has been a cornerstone of the Parliament’s position and on this issue some Member States have spoken in favour of matching the proposal. To this end, WWF have written to the Swedish finance minister, Anders Borg, calling on him to encourage fellow EU ministers to be supportive so that Member States may realise the socio-economic benefits of the MSY approach.