Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I must begin by lamenting the fact that the Commissioner for Fisheries, Mr Fischler, cannot be here today. I have been talking to him in person this week in connection with a fisheries event taking place simultaneously in Brussels, which we have already criticised in our Committee on Fisheries: a seminar on control over fisheries is being held, to which MEPs were invited during a week in which we also have a plenary sitting in Strasbourg, the timetable for which was known a year in advance. This is therefore doubly serious. I have made this known to Mr Fischler and I am now repeating it publicly here. Faced with this situation and the imminence of negotiations which might begin next Monday in Brussels, I do not think the Commission will give us much information today, due to the fact that it will do this – we hope – on Monday 30 October. The logic of not unveiling here – as the Commissioner himself said to me – the strategy that is to be revealed at the said negotiations, is justified and worthy of respect. So, as chair of the Committee on Fisheries, I would like to use our oral question and this debate to talk to both sides – since our motion for a resolution is addressed to both sides – about a few issues, and I would like to do so very calmly. First, I would like to emphasise the great concern of the Committee on Fisheries over the huge delay in negotiations – almost a year from the end of the previous agreement – which is the reason behind our oral question, which was formulated in September. Secondly, I would like to emphasise the agreement reached within our committee – and I would remind you here of our powers regarding an assent which is necessary for a fisheries agreement with Morocco – an agreement to convey the unequivocal message contained in our committee’s motion for a resolution which all the political groups have negotiated and presented together and upon which we are voting today. On the subject of the said motion for a resolution, I would like to highlight our firm support for the European Commission to continue negotiating with Morocco, and our call for Morocco to negotiate and find the best, most beneficial solution for both parties, as this is possible and must be found. As stated in our proposal, it is impossible that within the context of close relations of every kind (political, economic, commercial, financial, cultural, etc.) between two parties who have signed an association agreement for there to be no room for the fisheries cooperation that the European Union is asking for. There is plenty of room for cooperation in the field of fisheries, and with willingness on both sides, it can, and must, be achieved. There need only be one yardstick for the conservation of fish stocks. The European Union applies to its common fisheries policy the fundamental principle of responsible fishing and the conservation of resources, which are essential conditions for everyone, for the Moroccans, for the Europeans and for the non-Europeans who fish in Morocco. On the other hand, having said this, we also maintain that not just any agreement will suffice. It must be an agreement which provides an impetus for fisheries cooperation and the Moroccan fishing industry, but which also fully satisfies the fisheries interests of the European fleets. It would be a pity for so much effort not to lead to a solution that we all want so much, or for our relations with the sovereign people of Morocco to be obstructed or clouded at a time when the new young monarchy is initiating a stage of progress that inspires hope and when relations with the European Union must play a decisive role in supporting such hope. I repeat, it would be a pity to dash so much hope for the future and so many possibilities for mutual understanding. We also tell the Commission in section 8 what we expect from it should it be unable to reach a satisfactory agreement. From this rostrum and with the weight of representing European democracy on our shoulders, I call for good sense and wisdom from both parties, who will meet in Brussels on 30 October at the highest level – the European Fisheries Commissioner and the Moroccan Minister for Fisheries if, as I hope, his attendance in Brussels is confirmed, and the technical delegations, with the Moroccan Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs of Morocco, if this too is confirmed, with the Director-General for Fisheries of the European Union as chair – so that serious dialogue may take place and solutions be found. I will end, Mr President, by saying that there are many ways of reaching this agreement and there is still time, although unfortunately not much. This is what the people of the European Union, whom we represent here, are demanding.

Political group: PPE-DE