Debate: EU Action Plan: protecting and restoring marine ecosystems for sustainable and resilient fisheries
Date: THURSDAY, 18 JANUARY 2024
Speaker: Virginijus Sinkevičius
Language: EN

First of all, on impact assessment, the action plan is not a legal proposal. In addition, it is based on existing legislation, which impact assessments have been done and they were being adopted. Finally, the design and implementation of the measures is left to Member States, so they are best placed to judge what is needed and what the impact will be, and on that basis, ensure a balanced approach. It also has been explained on multiple occasions that the action plan does not intend to impose any legal measure. The action plan simply calls for a renewed political commitment to make the measures work involving the Commission, Parliament, the Council and Member States. It presents the CFP regionalisation process as the right framework for the measures proposed to be implemented. In addition, the Technical Measures Regulation also places the regionalisation in a privileged position. On bottom-trawling, again, we had a multiple exchanges on that, we’ve heard it quite a few times today. Dear Members of the Parliament, we need a transition to better protection of the seabed, including through the less damaging gears, but also to gears to ensure less fuel consumption. Because when the Russia attacked Ukraine, our fishers were left without income. Why? Because of their dependence on fossil fuels. And the fishing techniques that they are using today are unfortunately heavily dependent on fossil fuels, and we cannot keep them in this position where the whole livelihood, the income of their families, would be busted due to events happening in the world. We need to protect them and this is essential. The last thing on dialogue, you know, I myself, throughout this mandate, have visited all sea basins. I’ve talked with different communities in different parts of Europe, talked with the fishers from the Mediterranean to Baltic, Bay of Biscay even, a few times. We’ve been constantly involving fishers in this dialogue. I have accepted them on multiple occasions in Brussels. We had challenging times, starting the mandate with the Brexit issue and going through the COVID-19 crisis, and also, as I’ve said, Russia’s war against Ukraine. On all these occasions, I always had the privilege to meet the fishers and answer the questions about their future, and I will do so, same as you, Members of Parliament. So, you know, to say that there was a lack of dialogue is absolutely not true. We have been always involved and they were part of the dialogue as regards the action plan. The last thing, on the Bay of Biscay, as I see Mr Bellamy is still in the room, the very important thing to take from the Bay of Biscay, I think we don’t need to wait for national courts’ decisions to implement EU legislation, because when the national court decisions are announced, unfortunately it’s too late. I think we can prevent such things from happening and then ensure the livelihood of the fishers in different sea basins across Europe. Dear colleagues, in conclusion, the principle of regionalisation is the right framework to implement measures proposed in the action plan, so therefore it should be fully used to implement necessary measures to protect habitats and species. If we want the EU to continue being a leading actor on global marine conservation, we need to lead the transition to sustainability. So the benefits that ocean provides will be enjoyed also by the future generations, including future fishers. I count on the commitment of this House to work jointly with the Commission in the pursuit of the biodiversity goal, so we can offer our citizens the highest standards of marine conservation and supply of high-quality seafood, while ensuring the livelihoods of European fishing communities also in the future.