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While Turkey and the final financial packages for EU applicant countries continue to dominate the agenda of the Copenhagen Summit, Irish and UK Premiers, Bertie Ahern and Tony Blair are devoting their time to one other pressing issue.
Both leaders have pledged to raise the current cod crisis in the North Sea and the Irish Sea with European Commission President, Romano Prodi, before the end of the Council meeting.
A spokesman for Tony Blair said on Thursday that the Prime Minister would be talking privately with Mr Prodi about the Commission’s proposed drastic cutbacks for cod and other white fish species in the North Sea from 1 January 2003.
Increasing pressure
The Prime Minister has come under increasing pressure from the UK Fishing Industry to personally intervene in the negotiations over the cod crisis which many fear could lead to a loss of up to 20 000 jobs.
Final decisions on the Commission’s proposals of up to 66 – 79 per cent cuts in quotas for cod and other white fish species will be thrashed out when the EU’s 15 Fisheries Ministers gather next week in Brussels for a marathon four day summit meeting.
UK fishermen in particular have warned that if the EU goes ahead with the proposals, that fishermen face a "fleet meltdown."
Emergency measures
The European Commission stepped up the pressure yesterday by threatening to invoke emergency measures that could temporarily shut down entire areas of the North Sea if EU Fisheries Ministers fail to agree on how to tackle the cod crisis next week.
In a statement issued on Wednesday the Commission says that in the absence of an agreement it "will have no option but to withdraw its TAC [total allowable catches] proposals for the species concerned and to propose instead closure of the relevant fisheries." This would apply to cod, haddock, and whiting.
"The choice facing us is stark but straightforward: either we do our best to secure the future of our fishing sector by taking measures that will undeniably impose pain in the short-term or we postpone them once again until, inevitably, one fish stock after another collapses with all the attendant consequences for the sector. I trust that the Council will take the necessary decisions next week," warned EU Fisheries Commissioner, Franz Fischler.
Bully boy tactics
Ian Hudghton, a Scottish National MEP accused the Commissioner of using "bully boy" tactics to force the Council to make a hasty decision on the drastic cutbacks proposed by the Commission for cod and other white fish species.
Mr Hudghton and Struan Stevenson, the chairman of the European Parliament’s Fisheries Committee have been at the forefront of attempts to stall the cutbacks in order to allow more time for recent scientific evidence to be properly assessed.
Mr Stevenson is trying on behalf of the Fisheries Committee to delay the Commission’s proposal on technical grounds because the European Parliament has not been properly consulted on alterations to its original cod and hake recovery plan.
However, this has prompted the Commission to warn that more drastic measures could be on the way. The European Commission previously made use of its extensive emergency powers in the spring of 2001 when it shut down large areas of cod spawning grounds in the North Sea. It has the power to drastically reduce quotas and impose other technical measures for up to six months at a time.
But Mr Stevenson urged the Commission to be cautious in its actions and resist aggressive behaviour.
"If the Commission goes down the road of issuing threats and expects the [EU] member states and industry to bend the knee to the overwhelming power of Brussels then it is risking the destruction of the Common Fisheries Policy. It must remember it requires the cooperation of the member states to enforce these threats," he warned.
Blockade threat
However, if the Council do accept the Commission’s drastic cutbacks at next week’s Council, fishermen have already warned that they are prepared to take matters into their own hands.
Three fishermen’s wives, on a visit this week to Brussels to deliver an emotional plea to Commissioner Fischler about the effects of the cuts on their local community, warned that they were ready to dramatically step up their campaign.
"We have the backing of 42 vessels and 20 lorries and if need be we will shut down English Channel ports between Christmas and New Year," said the trio’s leader, Carol McDonald.
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Written by Nicola Smith
Edited by Nicola Smith
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