From European Voice

MEPs on Tuesday (10 December) gave their approval to a controversial fishing agreement with Morocco, new restrictions on deep-sea fishing, and reform of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP).

MEPs voted by 310 to 204, with 49 abstentions, to approve a fishing agreement with Morocco that includes waters off the disputed territory of Western Sahara. The EU does not recognise Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony.

In 2011, MEPs rejected a deal struck by the European Commission because it included Western Sahara. MEPs said the cost-benefit ratio of that deal was inadequate and that it would result in unsustainable fishing.

Under the new arrangement, which is expected to be approved by the member states, fishing vessels from 11 EU countries will be allowed to fish in the waters in return for an annual payment from the EU of €30 million, with an additional €10m coming from the ship-owners. Of that amount, €14m has been earmarked to support the development of the Moroccan fisheries industry.

Carmen Fraga Estévez, a centre-right Spanish MEP who was guiding the legislation through the Parliament, called it “an excellent deal for both sides, which fulfils all the conditions requested by the European Parliament in its 2011 resolution”.

But Green Spanish MEP Raül Romeva called the deal “the most shameful episode in the EU’s neo-colonial fisheries policy.”

Written by Dave Keating | Read more at European Voice