According to the information the North Sea RAC along with other regional advisory councils were established as part of the 2002 CFP reforms to provide the Commission with considered and balanced stakeholder advice. Based on this context it is a matter of the utmost concern that the rush to agree a new Control Regulation and a new Technical Conservation Regulation (to beat the introduction of co-decision making) has in effect bypassed the RACs.
It is said that the detailed advice that North Sea RAC has submitted on these proposals has been completely ignored in the artificial and truncated time frame imposed. It is almost inevitable that this rush to beat the democratic reforms associated with the Lisbon Treaty will result in two major pieces of CFP legislation of critical importance to the fishing industry, being littered with errors, anomalies and contradictions.
North Sea RAC has deplored this absolute failure of good governance and warns the Commission and Council that if these legislative proposals are accepted, it will be the fishing industry, member states and enforcement authorities who will inherit the consequences of what amounts to an abrogation of the Commission’s duty of care.
