Mr President, the regulation before us today is designed to strengthen the dialogue with the fishing industry and groups affected by the common fisheries policy. The Commission wants to ensure that it duly receives information on the needs of the industry. It also wants to promote the dissemination to this industry of the Community regulations and decisions adopted as part of the common fisheries policy. Naturally, the Committee on Fisheries supports this proposal for a regulation. In order to make proposals and carry out its responsibilities, the European Commission needs to be informed of the current state of affairs within the industry through dialogue with those involved. This proposal for a regulation has been preceded by the reform of the Advisory Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture, the consultation body created in 1971 and involving all the professional sectors. Briefly, this reform has updated this body by including other parties which have been playing an increasingly prominent part in recent years in the management of the rational exploitation of marine resources, such as non-governmental organisations devoted to development, environmental groups, consumers and also scientists. This reform has also involved a more prominent role being granted to the sectors hitherto underrepresented, such as the aquaculture sector and those engaged in marketing. The number of members of the plenary committee has also been reduced and specialist working groups have been established. The essence of this reform of the Advisory Committee is the priority given to organisations which are most representative at Community level, with the aim of ensuring that the committee is not merely a spokesperson for national interests. The Committee on Fisheries of this House, and myself in particular as rapporteur, have been highly critical of the fact that the Commission did not consult us on the reform of this committee. This means that we now have to be content with giving an opinion on this proposal for a regulation which I would venture to qualify as being of minor importance. With regard to its objectives and mechanisms and the legislative provisions applying to the industry, we fully support the Commission proposal to promote the dissemination of information on the common fisheries policy. We would be delighted if the Commission finally decided to make an effort to improve information. The Commissioner himself, when he last appeared before the committee, acknowledged that this was absolutely essential. Mr Fischler said that we have a marketing problem and that the information on, and defence of, our model must be improved. This involves both information provided to the fishing industry, which, in many cases, lacks awareness or understanding of its own situation, and information provided by the industry. As a member of the Committee on Fisheries, I have frequently been surprised by this deep lack of understanding, among the general public, of a common fisheries policy which is of enormous importance to many Member States and to the EU as a whole. With regard to the information provided to the fishing industry, we would ask the Commission to take note of the circumstances in which many fishermen are living. Not everyone has access to the new technologies which is why information campaigns must use all the media available to us, including the most traditional. In this respect, I must highlight the work of the written press, which is increasingly concerned about the future of fishing in Europe, and also that of radio and television which are democratic media available to everyone. To conclude, I must draw the Commission’s attention to the representative nature of the organisations within the Advisory Committee. Dialogue between the Commission and those involved in the industry is essential. Yet if this dialogue is to be fruitful, those involved must be genuinely representative of the various sectors affected by the common fisheries policy. However, neither the Commission proposal nor the rules governing the Advisory Committee contain mechanisms to ensure that this is the case. Nevertheless, in such a fragmented industry, which is scattered over wide areas and which has little history of forming associations, it is difficult to ensure that the Commission’s partners in the dialogue at Community level are reliable representatives of the sector concerned. With a view to enhancing their representativeness, it would perhaps be desirable for the Commission to take initiatives to boost the membership of existing trade organisations as an accompanying measure alongside those it is already undertaking. The representatives of the industry chosen as partners for the dialogue with the Commission, namely the members of the Advisory Committee, must represent the common interest.

Political group: PSE