Galician MEPs from the PPdeG, PSdeG, and BNG agreed this Wednesday in the European Parliament's Fisheries Committee to call on the EU Commissioner for Fisheries and Oceans, Costas Kadis, for a thorough review of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) to correct the flaws detected in its design.
During the debate, PPdeG MEP Francisco Millán Mon stressed that, although the evaluation of the CFP offers "an accurate diagnosis" of the sector's situation, with "a declining fishing fleet, stagnant aquaculture, and a more prosperous processing industry," the conclusions are "somewhat disappointing" and reflect an "excessively self-satisfied" view.
Millán Mon reproached that, despite problems such as the decrease in the volume and economic value of landings, job destruction, the aging of the fleet, or difficulties in ensuring generational renewal, the evaluation "continues to point to the reduction of fishing capacity as one of the main responses." In his opinion, "we do not find a glimmer of self-criticism or an analysis of the costs involved for the sector in complying with complex European regulations approved in the last 10 years."
The popular MEP also censured that the report attributes "the limited impact of the landing obligation mainly to implementation problems" by the Member States, without questioning the design of a measure that the sector has been criticizing for years due to its practical difficulties. Therefore, he advocated for an urgent reform of the CFP to allow for greater flexibility in the landing obligation and the application of "maximum sustainable yield," to review the concept of fishing capacity to favor decarbonization and generational renewal, to redefine artisanal fishing in line with the ICCAT definition, to incorporate socioeconomic criteria in the setting of TACs and quotas, and to strengthen the food security approach.
Criticisms from the PSdeG MEP
In the same session, the MEP from PSdeG, Nicolás González Casares, asked Costas Kadis to present "as soon as possible" a proposal for a revision of the CFP that allows "to correct design problems" and "to address new realities" such as the effects of climate change. He recalled that, despite "positive aspects" such as the increase in the percentage of exploited populations at sustainable levels—from 50% to 63%—, the recent evaluation of the CFP revealed that "it did not work".
González Casares referred to "very negative" elements, including a 30% drop in employment in the sector, wages that have grown far below inflation, difficulties in generational renewal, and "hindrances" to fleet renewal, which have led to the average age of vessels currently exceeding 30 years. He assured that "it is not only implementation problems that led to the limited effectiveness of the CFP: they are design problems and new realities," and called on the commissioner to "face the problems and not look the other way."
For the socialist MEP, the reform must serve to "rebalance" the three dimensions of sustainability, solve problems in the application of the landing obligation, favor generational renewal, achieve "safer, more comfortable and sustainable" vessels, offer greater predictability to the sector through multiannual TACs, and strengthen fishing agreements with third countries. He also took advantage of his speech to convey the sector's concern about the EU's new trade agreements and the impact of the liberalization of tuna trade with Mexico or Indonesia, asking himself, "Where is the protection for the canning sector and the coastal communities that depend on it? Then they will wonder why populism is growing."
Debate on the future European budget
González Casares criticized Kadis for the "brutal cut" of two-thirds that the Commission proposes for the fisheries budget within the multiannual financial framework 2028-2038 and advocated for taking advantage of the Committee on Fisheries' report on the sectoral financial regulation to "give fisheries the treatment it deserves in the budget and which, certainly, is not the abandonment and contempt shown by the European Commission."
The MEP from the PSdeG announced that, in his amendments, he will push for the sector to receive "recognition and priority" as a "key sector" for food security and sovereignty. In this regard, he defended "starting by recovering the name and budgetary allocation of the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund", and called for a minimum of 8,290 million euros for the regional program and 1,700 million for fishing agreements with third countries within the framework of Global Europe.
Likewise, he announced proposals to facilitate generational change, strengthen the role of Local Action Groups, and guarantee the proper functioning of the internal market and equal conditions among Member States.
"A ruin for Galician fishing," denounces the BNG
Also in the Fisheries Committee, the MEP from the BNG, Ana Miranda, addressed Costas Kadis to convey a message of "SOS" in the face of the "grave situation" experienced by the Galician fishing and shellfish sector and to demand an immediate review of the current CFP, which she described as "harmful" and "a ruin for Galician fishing." As she explained, she took advantage of the appearance to detail all the problems that one of the EU's main fishing sectors is facing and the urgency of adopting measures to guarantee its future.
Miranda described that "we are sending an SOS for fishing and shellfish in Galicia, which is suffering a critical situation due to the disaster in the Galician estuaries, the crisis in purse seine fishing due to the reduction of fishing quotas, the ban imposed by the EU in 87 areas that affected fishing capacity, the lack of support for the scientific sector, the lack of generational change, and the misuse of EMFF funds by the Xunta." She called for, among other measures, Galicia to be considered a "highly fishing-dependent zone," a demand on which, she indicated, "the commissioner did not respond despite acknowledging that it is the main fishing sector."
The MEP from the BNG insisted that "at the BNG, we are clear that the CFP was a ruin for Galician fishing. A ruin in which the Xunta government was complicit, as it did not support the sector in all these years and contributed with its neglect to its dismantling." In her opinion, a "profound" review of the CFP that takes into account the socioeconomic reality of the Galician fishing sector is "fundamental," recalling that in previous reforms, the specificity of Galicia "was not taken into account," for which "the BNG has been fighting for years."
Lastly, Miranda stressed that "modernization must be adapted to reality because the situation of Galician vessels in the shellfish or mussel fishing sector is not the same as in the Baltic or the Mediterranean," demanding that future Community regulations take these differences into account.