Mr President, on the initiative of the Socialist Group and with the support of other groups, the Committee on Fisheries has formulated this oral question to the European Commission and the, once again, absent Council of Ministers, so that European citizens may learn of the current situation with regard to the contacts with the Moroccan authorities, with a view to the negotiation of a future fisheries agreement between the European Union and Morocco. You will be aware, Mr Fischler, that the current agreement will expire on 30 November and that the following day the activities of the Community fleet which is fishing in the waters covered by this agreement will come to a halt. That is to say, Mr Fischler, that on 1 December 7,000 European fishermen will lose their jobs, 477 Community ships will remain moored in our ports, 10,000 jobs in the preserving and processing industries will be under threat, as well as many thousands more, relating to marketing and dockyard activities, will also be at risk. And these are jobs, Commissioner – and I want to warn you of this – in coastal areas which are highly dependent on fishing, Objective 1 regions, where fishing is the principal activity. In Galicia, which is my region, extractive fishing plays a part in 45 of the 56 Galician economic activities. The Community fleet which fishes in this fishing ground, Commissioner, has been decreasing agreement after agreement in terms of the number of ships and fishermen. This does not surprise me, but we cannot imagine that the ships and men who have fished there for decades, and of course long before the Jamaica Convention, will disappear overnight. The aid to shipowners and fishermen which is going to result from the FIFG has already been mentioned. I would like to tell you, Commissioner, that, firstly, neither the fishermen nor the shipowners wish to be subsidised. They are hard-working sea-faring people, who just want to work in the job that they know and for which they take such risks. On the other hand, these subsidies are never going to make it to a certain proportion of the population affected by this stoppage: to Mrs Manuela, who owns a fishmongers, to Mr Antonio, who sells electrical goods, or to the traditional boat-builders who are carrying out their work in the Galician training workshop in Rianxo because there will be no boats to repair. And, furthermore, Commissioner, if these subsidies are paid with FIFG resources, which are scarce and which are aimed at the adaptation and renovation of fleets, there will be fewer resources for the objectives of this fishing fund. Four years ago this Parliament declared itself in favour of creating a line specifically to deal with halts of fleets, unforeseen crises and circumstances such as a delay in the renewal of agreements. After the expiry of the previous agreement, Commissioner, there was a halt which lasted seven months, to which we have to add the natural biological stoppages and other bans which were not so much biological as arbitrary, imposed by the Moroccan Administration on a European Commission which was not able to defend the interests of its people, which was illustrated by the numerous unjustified seizures including some which were outside the Moroccan exclusive economic zone. I would like to ask the Commissioner what he plans to do with regard to preventing the re-occurrence of this situation because, until now, I have no idea what he intends. Neither do I know – since the Commissioner mentions it – what the Commissioner’s position is and how fishing will be defended at the Seattle Summit. I have seen how active you have been in the newspapers, Commissioner, in defence of agriculture, but I have heard nothing about fishing. I believe it would be useful if you were to establish a line of defence for European fishing. But the Council is also doing a dreadful job, especially in view of its incomprehensible inactivity with regard to providing the Commission with a mandate for negotiations with the Moroccan Government. And I believe that the Council’s delay can only be explained by the lack of pressure from the Government of the Member State which should be most interested in this Agreement. And further proof of this disinterest on the part of the Council is its absence today in this debate: disinterest in the fisheries agreement with Morocco and a lack of respect for this Parliament which represents all the citizens of Europe. The European Parliament, which will have to express its opinion on the future agreement by means of the assent procedure, must – I believe – be involved with the other institutions during the negotiations with the Moroccan government. There is no place here for a late and bad consultation, as is normally the case. And I would like to say to you, Commissioner, that I believe that the current agreement already has the characteristics of a second generation agreement and that, therefore, you must not insist on that position, which you have indicated, of saying that the negotiation is going to be very difficult. This agreement is not limited to mere financial compensation. There are already joint Euro-Moroccan enterprises and these will continue to exist, but this cannot be an exclusive model. Because we must not demand that shipowners get rid of their fishermen, with all their savoir faire, and we Socialists will not allow the continuation of certain companies to take place at the expense of their fishermen. The existing agreement and the one to come are a sign of Euro-Mediterranean cooperation and benefit both parties. Within the future agreement the Community must offer its technical services so that Morocco may also put its fishing fleet in order. Mr Fischler, with regard to fishing, you have not yet begun your work, or at least, you have scarcely started and started badly. You are still an unknown Commissioner, and I say “started badly” because of your unfortunate début of announcing the probable disbanding of the Directorate-General for Fisheries which, as you well know, caused a real storm in the sector. But I would like to tell you, Commissioner, that we are not going to take that into account. You were an acting Commissioner and I would like to borrow the metaphor of Mr Varela Suanzes-Carpegna and tell you that you have a good bull, a miura, to fight; carry out good negotiations, bring them to a satisfactory conclusion, defend the interests of the European fishermen as the Moroccan Government will defend the interests of theirs. (Applause)

Political group: PSE