WRITTEN QUESTION E-2879/00

by Camilo Nogueira Román (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(14 September 2000)

Subject: Renewal of the fisheries agreement with Morocco

The Spanish media have recently reported that Commission sources have admitted that no timetable has been established for negotiating a new fisheries agreement with Morocco, while also pointing out that this agreement is crucial, in the Spanish state, for the future of a fleet of 415 vessels providing 4 000 direct jobs in Galicia, Andalusia and the Canaries. Meanwhile, Spanish society and, in particular, the society of Galicia (represented by the author of this question) are looking on with astonishment at the reprehensible silence of the EU and Spanish authorities in the face of evidence that large vessels from Member States such the Netherlands and Ireland, benefiting from private contracts and licences from Moroccan bodies, have been replacing the vessels covered by the EU-Morocco agreements and catching a whole range of fish which are out of bounds to undertakings complying with EU law, and are even planning to construct large freezer trawlers in the Canaries for the fish thus obtained. One Galician media report claims that the EU supertrawlers fishing in those waters have caught 100 000 tons of fish, a figure exceeding the entire catch total for the same period under the previous EU-Morocco agreement.

Given that the previous agreement expired in November 1999 and that nine months of uncertainty have passed since, does the Commission not believe that it is time for the European institutions to take a clear and definite public stand in order to resolve this serious problem? Considering that no less a matter than the democratic credibility of the Community institutions is at stake, how does the Commission intend to put an end to the unacceptable situation created by vessels from some Community Member States fishing in sub-Saharan waters while vessels from Galicia, the Canaries and Andalusia, as well as those from other Member States such as Portugal, are prevented from doing so?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(16 October 2000)

The position of the Commission towards the future fisheries relations with Morocco remains the same as expressed in the negotiating mandate approved unanimously by the Council in October 1999.

As the Honourable Member is aware, the Commission has been active at all levels during the last months to initiate the negotiations as soon as possible. There have been several political meetings with the Moroccan government on this subject, while technical meetings took place at the end of July and September 2000. The Commission will keep the Parliament fully informed about the development of its contacts with Moroccan authorities.

Concerning the question of the Community vessels currently operating in Moroccan waters, the Commission can confirm that it has been aware of these activities since the first months of 2000. It should be noted that the vessels in question do not target the species traditionally fished by Community vessels.

Their presence in Morocco is the consequence of private agreements concluded between Netherlands enterprises and the Moroccan administration for which the Commission has no competence. The Commission is therefore not in a position to intervene in these arrangements.