Last week, the Inter-institutional Task Force set up to resolve the long-standing deadlock on multiannual management plans for fish stocks came to an agreement on the way forward.
After several years of disagreement between the co-legislators (the Council and the European Parliament) on how to deal with multiannual management plans under the Lisbon Treaty, the Task Force set up to find a way forward has concluded its work. On 2 April, it agreed on a report, which contains recommendations on the core elements that should appear in Multiannual Plans.
As the multiannual management plans are a key tool in the management of EU fisheries resources and stock recovery, stakeholders have been pressing for a resolution for years and this agreement is very welcome. A number of proposals have been in the pipeline, but not published by the Commission because of the deadlock, while reviews of already adopted plans are long overdue for several stocks and in some cases do not comply with the reformed CFP.
The Task Force published its final report today, which will be discussed at a future meeting of the Council and European Parliament. The recommendations include conclusions regarding core elements such as management objectives โ each plan should contain an MSY target conforming with Article 2(2) in the new basic regulation (EU 1380/2013) and a time line. The report also deliberates on the differences between single and multispecies plans.
The long-standing disagreement on MAMPs has led the European Parliament to taking the Council to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in order to find a resolution. While the recent agreement allows the Commission to resume its work on multiannual plans, publishing proposals for consideration by the co-legislators, the ECJ will, probably, not pay any attention to the Task Force report. The basis for its ruling will most likely be Article 43 of the TFEU and the particular regulations which the European Parliament has brought to court. An ECJ ruling may take another year or more, and may not provide the detailed guidance the EP was hoping for.
Whether the Task Force agreement will help the co-legislators to agree on new multiannual management plans remains to be seen.
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