WRITTEN QUESTION P-4151/97 by Bárbara Dührkop Dührkop (PSE) to the Commission (7 January 1998)

Subject: Community job losses due to the EU-Latvia fisheries protocol

The Commission has initialled a protocol with Latvia, within the framework of the Agreement on Fisheries Relations with that country, in which the conditions are laid down for setting up joint enterprises. In that protocol the Commission has agreed, in defiance of the clear interest of the Community, that the captain and the entire crew of fishing vessels must be citizens or permanent residents of Latvia.

This will mean that Community workers whose vessels are transferred from the Community to the Latvian fleet will lose their jobs and, further, that Community shipowners will be discouraged from setting up joint enterprises because they will no longer be able to employ a crew which is already familiar with the vessel.

The weak argument that this is a requirement under Latvian law falls by its own weight, since any law can be amended and an international agreement renders contradictory provisions at a lower level in the hierarchy, such as national legislation, null and void.

How does the Commission justify this abandonment of its responsibilities in negotiating the protocol, as has already occurred in the cases of Lithuania and Greenland?

Would it not be more reasonable, and in keeping with Community interests, for the crew to be Community citizens in proportion to the share of Community capital in the joint enterprise and for the captain to be a citizen of the same party as the major partner in the enterprise?

Answer given by Mrs Bonino on behalf of the Commission (3 February 1998)

On the basis of negotiating directives adopted after the 1995 enlargement, new fisheries agreements were negotiated with Latvia in April 1996 and with Estonia and Lithuania in June 1996. The establishment of joint ventures or joint enterprises (JV/JE) was foreseen as a new element to be introduced in these agreements. The protocol related to the establishment of permanent joint enterprises in Latvia was negotiated and initialled in February 1997.

Member States were present during the negotiations with each of the countries and the Commission initialled the draft protocol with Latvia in good faith and with full assistance of the Member States, in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 228 ¶ 1 of the EC Treaty. No reservations were filed by the Council Secretariat.

Against this background, the Commission respectfully disagrees with the Honourable Member in her assessment that it acted irresponsibly and against Community interests when it accepted the terms of Article 6 of that protocol. Under the permanent joint enterprise scheme, vessels are withdrawn from the Community register and reflagged to a third country. They are consequently subject to the legislation of that country. Latvia explicitly stated that the captain and crew on board Latvian vessels should be Latvian citizens or permanent residents, in accordance with current Latvian law and as a condition for initialling the agreement.

The Commission concurs with the Honourable Member that Community employment should be maintained wherever possible in the fisheries sector. It will therefore do its utmost in the future to negotiate terms and conditions consistent with that aim.