EU set to clash over fishing
Monday, 23 June 2008
BRUSSELS, June 22 (AFP): The European Commission faces fresh frictions with some member states at a meeting Tuesday with EU fisheries ministers over the early closure of the tuna fishing season and soaring fuel prices.
France, which takes over the European Union's rotating presidency in July, has called for Brussels' decision to shut down tuna fishing early to be reconsidered at the meeting in Luxembourg.
Chronically overfished, Mediterranean tuna are the victim of their success with fish lovers, who prize their flesh in sushi. About 70 per cent of the Mediterranean catch goes to Japan and prices keep going higher.
On June 13, the commission called an early halt to industrial fishing of blue fin tuna in the Mediterranean and eastern Atlantic at the peak of the season over fears quotas were being filled too quickly.
The move triggered a wave of fierce criticism from Europe's leading tuna fishing nations France, Italy and Spain, which accused the commission of using faulty figures and demanded the decision be dropped.
"The commission's figures are based on estimates or projections more than on facts," French Fisheries Minister Michel Barnier told French weekly Le Journal de Dimanche in an interview published Sunday.
In theory, the ministers could overturn the commission's decision if a qualified majority is reached, which is unlikely to happen.
France, which takes over the European Union's rotating presidency in July, has called for Brussels' decision to shut down tuna fishing early to be reconsidered at the meeting in Luxembourg.
Chronically overfished, Mediterranean tuna are the victim of their success with fish lovers, who prize their flesh in sushi. About 70 per cent of the Mediterranean catch goes to Japan and prices keep going higher.
On June 13, the commission called an early halt to industrial fishing of blue fin tuna in the Mediterranean and eastern Atlantic at the peak of the season over fears quotas were being filled too quickly.
The move triggered a wave of fierce criticism from Europe's leading tuna fishing nations France, Italy and Spain, which accused the commission of using faulty figures and demanded the decision be dropped.
"The commission's figures are based on estimates or projections more than on facts," French Fisheries Minister Michel Barnier told French weekly Le Journal de Dimanche in an interview published Sunday.
In theory, the ministers could overturn the commission's decision if a qualified majority is reached, which is unlikely to happen.