Mr President, in his speech, Mr Varela Suanzes-Carpegna has already mentioned the forceful response from the Vice-President of the Commission, Mr Kinnock, to my question on the boarding by Canadian inspectors of a Portuguese fishing vessel in NAFO waters. If we are to maintain the balance in this important organisation – and in what is an extremely important fishing ground for the Community fleet – then the only way to do so is for everyone to behave responsibly. The proposal for a regulation under discussion today, on control measures for vessels from countries which are non- Contracting Parties to NAFO, is very much linked to this sense of responsibility that is so necessary in the fisheries sector. I am referring to the responsibility we all share for managing marine resources, in accordance with rules accepted by all parties to guarantee that such resources are preserved and that ours will not be the last generation to see cod, redfish or American plaice. Regional fishing organisations have played an increasingly important role over recent years in the management of resources. In this respect, we, the Socialists, would like to continue developing the idea that encourages this sense of responsibility. Legal philosophies dating from times gone by have been left behind, times when man felt how small he was in relation to the immensity of the Earth, which appeared to be a planet with infinite resources. The lack of ownership of the seas and the principle that the sea belongs to no one sprang from such ideas. However, nowadays, in a world that is becoming ever smaller, a world dominated by new technologies that make the world even smaller and with resources we know are becoming more and more scarce, we, the Socialists would like to move forward on the principle that the sea belongs to everyone. For this reason, we would like NAFO to be – and indeed it is – an organisation open to countries that have vessels operating in this area. In this way, such countries would play a part in creating regulatory measures and would share responsibility for managing resources. If this does not happen, flags of convenience, euphemistically known as ‘non-Contracting Parties’, will benefit, not to mention the piracy which lies behind the euphemism, ‘stateless vessels’. Such vessels – which we are often keen to believe have nothing to do with us – do not come from remote southern seas, but rather almost always originate from European ports, from Community ports. They fly strange flags and their aim is to practise social dumping. In so doing, they avoid regulations on the rational management of resources and pay no attention to workers’ social rights. People who idolise the market should note from this that neither fish nor people gain anything from their hypotheses. Lastly, it is extremely important that countries with vessels operating in NAFO waters are Contracting Parties, just as it is important that the European Community is also a Contracting Party to regional organisations being set up in the South Atlantic and beyond the area the Community fleet currently operates in. Our fleet, the Community fleet, does not wish to be seen as a pirate fleet, as a fleet without nationality, nor as an intruding fleet. To conclude, the Group of the would like to state that it wholeheartedly agrees with the content of this report although it regrets, as does the rapporteur himself, Mr Varela Suanzes-Carpegna, that there is a lack of proposed measures from the Commission on combating the main enemy of our fleet and of the conservation of fishery resources today. This enemy is none other than those vessels flying flags of convenience.

Political group: PSE