WRITTEN QUESTION E-2746/01

by Jonas Sjöstedt (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(9 October 2001)

Subject: EU fisheries agreement with South Africa

For years the EU has been attempting to conclude a fisheries agreement with South Africa, but in spring 2001 the South Africans gave a flat refusal. The fisheries negotiations then collapsed. The trade agreement with South Africa did however come into force in January 2000.

It might however be feared that South Africa's refusal to allow in foreign fishing fleets might in the longer term have implications for the major trade agreement between the EC and South Africa, which took four years to negotiate. There is a link between the trade agreement and the wrecked fisheries negotiations. Duty-free entry for South African fisheries products is directly linked to the outcome of the fisheries negotiations. Nobody is saying it outright, but there is also a degree of pressure from the EC with regard to wines and spirits, negotiations on which have yet to be concluded. Out of the Member States only Sweden and the Netherlands had ratified the trade agreement by May 2001. These two countries have no interests in the fisheries or wine industries. The other Member States seem to be pursuing a wait-and-see policy. In May 2001 no country had yet threatened to back out from the trade agreement, but the southern European countries with the most negative views include those with the largest fishing fleets.

What is the Commission doing to encourage ratification of the trade agreement by the Member States? Can it guarantee that no linkage is made between the failure of the fisheries negotiations and the fact that the trade agreement with South Africa has not been ratified by all Member States?

Answer given by Mr Nielson on behalf of the Commission

(3 December 2001)

The negotiations for the Trade Development and Cooperation Agreement (TDCA) with South Africa were successfully concluded in 1999. Council Decision 1999/753/EC, of 29 July 1999 concerning the provisional application of the Agreement on Trade, Development and Cooperation between the Community and its Member States, of the one part, and the Republic of South Africa, of the other part(1) establishes provisional and partial application of the TDCA as of 1 January 2000, pending ratification by the parties to the Agreement.

At the time of conclusion of the TDCA, negotiations were still under way in two specific areas: Wine and Spirits and Fisheries.

Negotiations for the conclusion of a separate Fisheries Agreement were suspended earlier this year, as it became clear that the Commission mandate was for the conclusion of an agreement that would include access to South African fishery resources for European vessels, in addition to cooperation in a number of fishery-related areas. The South African delegation was mandated only to negotiate an agreement that would not include such access.

The Commission feels that this state of affairs affects neither the provisional application nor the full entry into force of the TDCA. It does not rule out the possibility that parties will return to the negotiating table at a later stage.

Negotiations on the Wine and Spirits Agreements had shown only slow progress in the months preceding the summer 2001, until it was decided to hold a South Africa-Community Cooperation Council on 26 June 2001. At the Council it was agreed that a group of six high level officials would meet in order to work out a solution for the outstanding issues: the phasing out of trademarks which conflict with protected names, opening of the wine quota and access to the European markets for blended wines. The group met on 25 July 2001 and agreed on a Memorandum of Understanding, which is to be the basis for finalisation of the Wine and Spirits Agreements.

To date three Member States have ratified the TDCA: Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden. The Commission trusts that a speedy conclusion of the outstanding Wine and Spirit Agreements will remove any potential threat to the ratification and full application of the TDCA.

(1) OJ L 311, 4.12.1999.