NFFO has participated in a recent exchange of views with the Commission on the reform of CFP. The Commission (DG MARE) said that the “status quo” was not an option. The consultation would continue over the summer and finish with a conference that the Commission intended to organise on 16 November in Brussels. Those invited to participate would include ACFA, RACs, other fisheries and aquaculture stakeholders involved in innovative projects, MS, EP and other Institutions.
The Commission is considering a legislative package that would consist of: a) a Commission Communication accompanying the legislative proposals and containing non-legislative elements, such as the social dimension; b) a proposal for a new CFP Regulation; c) a proposal for a new CFP Regulation; these latter would be adopted under co-decision at the end of 2012.
The Commission representative pointed out that the model which was being considered for the decision making process was downstream regionalisation whereby management and policy implementation decisions – i.e. implementing rules – would be left to the regions themselves. He noted that there had been no change in the Commission’s guidance relating to the CFP Reform (including the external dimension), but rather a logical development as a result of the consultation process, and he reminded the participants that the Commission considered the development of mechanisms to protect and to improve the small-scale fisheries as one of the main objectives of the reform.
The Commission wanted to finance innovation and sustainability, and was intending to include aquaculture in a special chapter of the future financial instrument. Health issues were part of the political package, and it remained a central objective of the CFP reform to have healthy fish resources in order to cover the future consumer demand.
