European Parliament resolution on the development of a Community Action Plan for the recovery of European eels (2005/2032(INI))
Date: 2005-11-15
Institutions: European Parliament
Subjects: action programme, conservation of fish stocks, fish, fishery management, fishing regulations, protection of animal life

18.11.2006

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 280 E/63

Tuesday 15 November 2005

P6_TA(2005)0425

European eels

European Parliament resolution on the development of a Community Action Plan for the recovery
of European eels (2005/2032(INI))

The European Parliament,

— having regard to the communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parlia-
ment, ‘Development of a Community Action Plan for the management of European eel’ (COM(2003)
0573),

— having regard to Rule 45 of its Rules of Procedure,

— having regard to the report of the Committee on Fisheries (A6-0284/2005),

Calls on the Commission to ask the Member States as soon as possible to draw up national manage-

1.
ment plans, which should comprise the following elements:

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

technical measures to be taken where obstacles exist in waterways, in order to optimise the migration
— i.e. upstream colonisation and downstream movement towards the sea — of eels;

gathering of data on, monitoring of and, if appropriate, limits, where justified by historic and scientific
data, on fishing effort by both professional and recreational fishermen by means of temporary bans on
fishing and/or limits on catch capacity, with due regard for national differences in types of fishing and
for credible self-regulation;

increasing restocking with glass eels and fattened farmed eels in the managed areas in European inland
waters;

ensuring that eel farming is not so extensive as to disturb the viability of wild eel fisheries, either by
depriving them of glass eels which naturally replenish stocks or by failing to ensure escapement of
mature silver eels for natural spawning;

(e) measures relating to the management of cormorant populations to reduce eel mortality;

Calls on the Commission to have research conducted into the role of climate change in the decline of

2.
eel stocks;

Calls on the Commission to investigate any obstacles in the oceans to the natural migration of eels to

3.
the Sargasso Sea;

4.

Notes the ICES scientific reports on this subject;

Calls on the Commission to carry out research into the health of eels and the obstacles which such

5.
external factors as PCBs and fish diseases may present to successful migration and breeding;

Calls on the Commission to carry out research into the biogeographical distribution of stocks of this

6.
species of eel;

Calls on the Commission to carry out research into pollution as a factor in assessing possible causes of

7.
mortality among eel stocks in freshwater waterways;

Calls on the Commission to investigate the scope for supporting the process of change, inter alia by

8.
means of access to the European Fisheries Fund;

C 280 E/64

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

18.11.2006

Tuesday 15 November 2005

9.
Calls on the Commission to adjust the policy on catches and exports of eel in such a way that enough
glass eels are available for natural migration and enough glass eels are available at a reasonable price for
restocking of natural eel habitats in accordance with sustainable fisheries management in Europe;

Calls on the Commission to propose measures to manage fishing and marketing and to monitor the
10.
quantities of glass eels offered for sale by means of a system of documentation of catches, in order to
combat illegal fishing more effectively, this being responsible for a substantial reduction in young and
adult eel stocks;

Calls on the Commission to make proposals to mitigate the socioeconomic impact of limits on

11.
catches and exports of glass eels;

12.
Calls on the Commission, as soon as possible, to insert in the fisheries budget a separate entry for
cofinancing of the restructuring of inland fisheries in Europe and to mitigate the impact of a change of
policy in the glass eel sector;

Calls on the Commission, after the implementation of the Action Plan, to inform the European

13.
Parliament and Council annually about the progress made and the results achieved per Member State;

14.

Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council and Commission.

P6_TA(2005)0426

Privileges and immunities

European Parliament resolution on a possible infringement of the Protocol on the privileges and
immunities of the European Communities by a Member State (2005/2187(INI))

The European Parliament,

— having regard to Article 10 of the Protocol on the privileges and immunities of the European Com-
munities of 8 April 1965, and Article 6(2) of the Act concerning the election of the members of the
European Parliament by direct universal suffrage of 20 September 1976,

— having regard to the judgments of the Court of Justice of the European Communities of 12 May 1964

and 10 July 1986 (1),

— having regard to the requests submitted by Jean-Charles Marchiani for defence of his immunity before

the French courts,

— having regard to its decision of 5 July 2005 (2), in which it decided to defend the immunity of Jean-

Charles Marchiani,

— having regard to Rule 121(2) of its Rules of Procedure,

— having regard to the report of the Committee on Legal Affairs (A6-0316/2005),

A. whereas, by arguing in its Judgment No 1784 of 16 March 2005 that no law or convention, nor any
constitutional principle, allowed it to conclude that Article 100-7, first subparagraph of the French
Code of Criminal Procedure was applicable to Members of the European Parliament, the French
Court of Cassation did not apply Article 10 of the above Protocol, thus denying a Member of the
European Parliament of French nationality the benefit of Article 100-7, first subparagraph of the French
Code of Criminal Procedure enjoyed by national members of parliament,

(1) Case 101/63 Wagner v. Fohrmann and Krier [1964] ECR 383, and Case 149/85 Wybot v. Faure and others [1986]

ECR 2391.

(2) Texts Adopted of that date, P6_TA(2005)0269.