CFP reform: Credit where credit is due

The Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) has been arguably the most dysfunctional of all EU policies. So bad that even EU Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki has not shied away from criticising its damaging impact, especially on the long-term sustainability of fish stocks.

Yesterday, MEPs approved by 502 to 137 votes a set of measures to reform the CFP in what has been widely described as a 'landmark' vote. And rightly so, given that the CFP is re-opened for negotiation only every ten years. The measures adopted by MEPs include a number of positive things:

• A timetable for the enforcement of an EU-wide ban on discards of fish. Under the new rules, all fish caught will have to be landed. If enforce propoerly, this should encourage better and more selective fishing techniques.

• From 2015, and by 2020 at the latest, EU fishermen will not be allowed to catch more than a given fish stock can reproduce in a given year. For lovers of Brussels acronyms, this is called the Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY).

• Annual allocations of fishing quotas will have to be consistent with longer-term management plans for individual fisheries. This is expected to avoid, or at least reduce, the yearly squabbling between national fisheries ministers in Brussels.
   
•  Most importantly, management of fisheries will be largely carried out at the regional level - i.e. member states surrounding a certain sea basin will sort out day-to-day issues among themselves, based on broad principles decided in Brussels.

Now that both national governments and the European Parliament have adopted their negotiating positions, talks will resume. There are still some issues that need to be ironed out. For example, MEPs wants to give the European Commission more power to intervene when member states struggle to reach an agreement among themselves on day-to-day management. The UK and other governments are suspicous that this could lead to more Commission power, not less. Also, MEPs want to be "present" when decisions about quota allocations are taken in the Fisheries Council.

But if one looks at the bigger picture, the reforms adopted yesterday, albeit decades late, are clearly a step in the right direction. And prove that shifting from Brussels-centric micro-management to a healthier and more logic regional-based approach is fully possible when there is the political will to do so.  

Can A Fictional Character Break EU Law?

Apparently yes. Here's a peculiar story which is all over Italian media: according to Italian papers, the EU Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki has written a letter to the 86-year-old, famous Italian writer Andrea Camilleri complaining - somewhat tongue-in-cheek, we hope - that the writer's best-known fictional character is regularly and blatantly breaking EU law.

A bit of cultural background: Camilleri is the author of a series of best-selling crime novels, which have also been turned into successful TV episodes for Italy's public broadcaster RAI. The main character of the novels is Sicilian police detective Salvo Montalbano - played by actor Luca Zingaretti in the TV version (see picture) - whose favourite dish happens to be small squids.

The problem is that the sale of so-called 'baby fish' for human consumption is forbidden under EU law. Thus, Commissioner Damanaki worries that every time Montalbano enjoys a portion of small squids at home or in his favourite restaurant, he sends the wrong message to millions of readers and viewers. She has therefore kindly asked Camilleri to change the eating habits of his fictional creation.

Damanaki writes on her blog,

I am a big fan of Andrea Camilleri, the well-known Italian writer who created Montalbano, and I intend to write him a letter to pay tribute to his work, but also to ask him to stop having the protagonist of his novels eating small squids: that is unethical!

The outspoken 86-year-old writer has said that he has not yet received any letter from Damanaki, but added,

Well, perhaps a bit more seriousness is needed. Montalbano likes cliff mullets, which are not forbidden, and sometimes also eats bianchetti [white baits]...

Our question: If Camilleri refuses to comply, will Ms. Damanaki launch a fictional infringement procedure?

The EU's fisheries policy gets battered

If there ever was a competition for the worst EU policy, the Common Fisheries Policy would probably end up on top. The policy simply has to go.

So it's encouraging that the EU’s Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki yesterday did the right thing and called for an end to the CFP-mandated practice of throwing back dead fish overboard if fishermen's quotas have been exceeded:

"I consider discarding of fish unethical, a waste of natural resources and a waste of fishermen's effort. But I would like to go further – since our stocks are declining, these figures are not justifiable anymore. If we continue with our policy, then we will soon face a situation where the production capacity of marine ecosystems is at risk”.

This is of course hardly a revelation; groups from across society and the political spectrum have been warning about the economic, social and environmental catastrophe that is the CFP for a long time.

To give only a couple of examples of what Europe's fishing industry has come to under the CFP :

· 80% of Europe’s fisheries are considered to be overexploited or in danger of collapse

· 1.3 million tonnes of seafood are thrown back every year in the North Atlantic alone, including two out of every three haddock caught to the west of Scotland

· The value of fish that thrown back every year by the Scottish fishing fleet alone was estimated at £40m, resulting in higher prices for consumers.

Momentum against the CFP is building, and the recent “Fish Fight” campaign fronted by TV chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has brought the issue to a much wider audience, helping to put pressure on the EU for reform. While Damanaki’s pledge is good news, this time it must be followed by concrete action. After all one her predecessors, Joe Borg, called the discards policy “morally wrong” and pledged root-and-branch reform back in 2007, but to no avail.

The common sense void in which the CFP exists is a big reason why hostility to the EU is growing, exemplifying Brussels’ painful inability to reform its policies as the circumstances around it changes (on this one, it's not the Commission's fault as a handful member states, most importantly Spain, continue to block reform). It is so detested that it even managed to unite such diverse groups as climate change sceptic Conservative MPs and Greenpeace activists.

Although dumping the discards policy will not solve all Europe’s fishing problems, it's certainly the right place to start.

Massive massive hypocrisy (part 187)

No contradictions here:

(1) The Commission proposes various new environmental laws, casually helping itself to new competences in criminal law and taxation as it does so.

(2) The Commissioner in charge of fisheries admits (admittedly not exactly a newsflash) that the Common Fisheries policy is "morally wrong" and that "it is damaging the enviornment". He admits the EU's ludicrously designed policy is leading to the dumping of 880,000 tonnes of dead fish in the north sea every year (releasing at least their own weight in CO2 and methane).

(3) According to one of the other commissioners, Mandelson supposedly asked for his company car to be a environmentaly friendly er... Maserati. He didn't get the £80,000 supercar (in fact his people are denying it this morning), but at a cool 440gCO2 /km it would have been about three and a half times over the Commission's recently proposed 130g /km maximum. Some are more equal than others...

In other news, Dan Hannan has started a blog... his first piece looks at ludicrous EU expenses & perks. They are not going to be reformed any time soon... according to a recent written answer there is no discussion about stripping EU officials of their special low rates of tax. Dawn Primarolo says there are "no plans to amend" the current arrangements. At just 11% income tax EU officials can afford to cough up for the various measures the EU is now proposing.

The EU is also proposing a ban on smoking in public buildings which appears to have no legal basis, wheras the European Parliament has just dumped its own smoke ban. Remember: do as we say, not as we do.