Coveney’s compromises rescue draft EU fisheries agreement

A deal on fish policy for the next decade was pulled back from the brink when EU member states agreed to a new set of compromises put forward by Fisheries Minister Simon Coveney.

The European Parliament, which will agree the final deal, is reviewing the 200 pages of amended proposals from member states.

Mr Coveney is optimistic that, when ministers get around the table again on May 28, they will be closer to an agreement.

Chief negotiator Ulrike Rodust said she would have liked the ministers to favour stricter rules on sustainable fisheries and a rigorous discard ban.

Ms Rodust did not reject the draft. “I hope that we can come to an agreement on the basis of the Council’s revised mandate in the next weeks, but I cannot guarantee that,” she said.

Praise for Mr Coveney’s negotiations with fellow fishery ministers was qualified by Irish fishermen concerned that Hague preferences giving them significant quantities of extra fish were not copper-fastened.

This clause was approved by the Parliament’s fisheries committee in February and Fianna Fáil MEP Pat ‘the Cope’ Gallagher is hopeful it will survive in the final text.

Mr Gallagher called the latest draft on discards, regionalisation, and capacity management “a significant and positive step in the right direction”.

Conservation bodies welcomed the amendments but criticised them as not being ambitious enough.

Uta Bellion of Ocean2012 said they were disappointed ministers have not agreed to a target date by which fish stocks should be rebuilt.

Mr Coveney, emerging from a long night of talks in Brussels, said it was not possible to meet the Parliament’s demands fully.

“We are under no illusions as to the challenges facing us with the European Parliament, however strong the compromise mandate given,” he said.

He described the negotiations as difficult and complex, and said one indication of how broad the disagreements were was the fact that Sweden refused to sign up to the draft, saying it did not go far enough in ensuring fishing would be sustainable in the future.

However, countries such as France, Spain, Portugal, and Greece had come quite a distance having threatened to derail the process by refusing to compromise on their demands.

Mr Coveney described the outcome as “a major conciliatory step in the direction of the European Parliament”.