Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-07-03-Speech-3-331"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20020703.12.3-331"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, as has been emphasised by our fellow Member Mr Niels Busk, rapporteur for the Committee on Fisheries on matters concerning the monitoring of the implementation of the common fisheries policy, it is essential that the rules of the policy should be perceived by fishermen to be just, equitable and proportionate if these rules are to be observed. As our rapporteur says, fishermen’s support and respect for fisheries regulations will improve if fishermen’s organisations are involved in the decision-making process.
This, Mr President, is a crucial point. If the professionals at the sharp end are not closely involved in the formulation of decisions, in the definition of measures to protect stocks and of technical provisions, if they sense that the common fisheries policy is unfair and is stacked against them, if they have the feeling that they are being condemned out of hand, the rules of the common fisheries policy will never be properly applied, and no repressive mechanism will ever alter that.
Alas, the way chosen by the Commission to launch the process of reforming the common fisheries policy has been the exact opposite of the cooperative effort that is needed to develop new rules. And yet the fishermen’s organisations played a very active and constructive part in the consultation process initiated by the Commission after the publication of its Green Paper. They thought that the reform of the common fisheries policy would offer an opportunity to restore confidence by breaking with the depressing tradition of dictated policies. They are all the more bitter to find themselves presented with reform plans that effectively ignore their suggestions. The Commission’s initial error, in other words, has been compounded by the wrong choice of method.
With regard to the measures to protect and regenerate stocks, instead of moving towards the procedures based on consensus and responsibility that fishermen want, the Commission seeks to drag us towards greater authoritarianism and centralisation, in spite of some spurious concessions, such as the regional advisory committees.
As far as the measures to regulate the fishing effort are concerned, these are brutal and arbitrary decisions that are being imposed, and their purpose is to scrap more and more vessels and to make more and more fishermen redundant. If such measures were adopted, there would be every reason to fear, Mr Busk, that monitoring the implementation of the common fisheries policy would be fraught with far more problems tomorrow than it is today. But there is still time, Commissioner, to think again and to listen to the messages that the fishing communities are addressing to you. As you well know, rather than arousing enthusiasm, your proposals have only stirred up revolt in our ports and along our coasts. If you are able to discern the import of this revolt, you will soon realise that our fishermen are more deeply committed to the practice of sustainable fishing than your armchair environmentalists."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples