Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-11-14-Speech-2-290"
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"en.20001114.11.2-290"2
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".
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, allow me to start by thanking you for your support for our efforts to promote and strengthen the Community's participation in regional fisheries organisations. I agree with all of you who have said that we need more regional fisheries organisations and I agree with Mr Varela and other speakers that the Commission has a role to play in these regional fisheries organisations.
Now to the reproach under point 16, where it says that the Commission wants to exclude Parliament from the process of Community participation in the various regional fisheries organisations. That is quite untrue; in fact the opposite is true. The Commission has always spoken out here in favour of the rules for cooperation between Parliament and the Commission and has always adhered to the rules of the interinstitutional agreement.
We also agree with the House that the question of controls must be a cornerstone in the area of regional fisheries policy. However, I must again stress the Commission's position that it cannot accept sole responsibility for controls in regional fisheries organisations. It is in fact the Member States – in keeping with the basic structure of the European Union – which are primarily responsible for controls. In exercising their sovereign rights as flag states, they must provide the necessary human, financial and material resources needed in order for the Community to meet its international obligations.
The Commission therefore stands by its conclusion in the communication that, as far as controls are concerned, NAFO is an exceptional case and should not become the rule. The Commission should concentrate on its own job, which is to monitor and coordinate the implementation of controls in the regional fisheries organisations by the Member States. The Commission is also required to carry out a huge amount of work in connection with negotiations held within the framework of regional fisheries organisations.
It would quite simply be inappropriate to disregard current institutional practice in the Community in relation to responsibility for controlling ships operating on the high seas.
I should like to reiterate two fundamental points here. First, the Community must be consistent in its actions, irrespective of whether we are talking about controls in Community waters or controls on the high seas.
Secondly, the stand which we take on this subject must be in keeping with the stand taken during the current debate on the Commission's so-called core activities, which is why the discussion of control measures goes beyond regional fisheries organisations. We need to select a comprehensive
which takes account of all fisheries activities in the Community, both in EU waters and on the high seas.
If we want to consider a completely new take on the Commission's remit in relation to controls inside and outside Community waters, then I think that it we should do so in connection with preparations to reform the common fisheries policy. That means that we shall have plenty of opportunity here next year to discuss these issues in depth. So much for the central tenet of the report.
I should like to make a few brief comments now on a number of other points. As far as the time taken to implement the decisions of the regional fisheries organisations is concerned, I agree that the Commission's record can and must be improved. Some progress has already been made but our efforts must focus on better planning.
On the question of infringements and sanctions: the Commission has always been in favour of including sanctions in the control regulations. Without sanctions, we have no teeth. Unfortunately, we have not succeeded so far in getting our ideas across because the Council has always resisted them. But we shall try, as part of the ongoing work to create an area of freedom, security and justice, as formulated and decided at the Tampere Summit, to make progress on this question also."@en1
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