Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-11-17-Speech-4-064-000"
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"en.20111117.4.4-064-000"2
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"Mr President, I very much welcome the report on combating illegal fishing at the global level, and I would like to congratulate the rapporteur, Ms Isabella Lövin, on the excellent way in which she brought together different opinions into a report. I know this is a controversial issue. I would like to congratulate her because her report deals with all the relevant issues. I would also like to thank all Members of the Committee on Fisheries for their outstanding work on this report, and of course Members from other relevant committees.
In general, I fully agree with Ms Lövin’s analysis. Illegal fishing is a global problem and a very difficult problem to handle since a lot of countries are involved in each operation. This is the great problem about illegal fisheries. You could have a Greek vessel, a French captain, a Korean crew, and they go to the Canaries to land what they have caught, so it is very difficult to tackle the problem.
That is why – after the implementation of the IUU Regulation – we are trying to have a consistent stance inside the European Union and outside the European Union. This is a very important parameter if we want to fight illegal fishing. We have to behave the same way inside and outside EU waters, otherwise we cannot be reliable.
I think two issues are very important here: better governance and transparency. We must also solve the problem of subsidies. We need to increase cooperation among market States, develop new tools at international level, and pursue the development of a global catch documentation system.
I would like to highlight two issues; firstly on cooperation among market States, I have already taken the first step. We have signed the Joint Statement with the United States pledging bilateral cooperation to combat illegal fisheries. But we have to implement this agreement and we also have to have further cooperation and sign similar agreements with other very important countries. Here we are planning to work with Japan, Canada and other countries – including China of course – because if we really want to combat illegal fishing worldwide we have to cooperate with everybody.
Secondly, I want to highlight the issue of subsidies where we have shared views. The Regulation provides that subsidies can no longer be granted to operators involved directly or indirectly in illegal fishing. My services will now look closely into allegations relating to incidents that happened after the rules entered into force. For the previous period we cannot do much, but after the entry into force of this Regulation we can do something, and that is what we are trying to do now.
To make our framework even stronger, I plan to introduce two specific elements in the future European Maritime and Fisheries Fund. First, conditionality. No subsidy can be granted to operators involved in illegal fishing. This will be a rule: absolute conditionality. Second, financial correction. Subsidies granted to such operators will be withdrawn. We need these clear rules to fill the existing gaps.
I also subscribe to Ms Lövin’s views that illegal fishing activities by their very nature are in fact criminal activities. Countries need to cooperate with each other in investigations, proceedings, and ultimately prosecutions if we want to actively combat these ‘pirate’ actions.
As a final point, the EU as the biggest player in this market has a moral obligation to take the lead in this fight. I am looking forward to continue working with Parliament and all stakeholders in order to best shape our role. I would like to emphasise that we are doing our best, but you need to bear in mind that we have just started. We have limited resources and we cannot be everywhere in the world, but we are going to use taxpayers’ money in the best way in order to have concrete results."@en1
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