New parliament’s fisheries committee braces for challenging agenda

4 months ago 16

The reform of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) will be among the main tasks for the new European Parliament’s Committee on Fisheries, with the European People’s Party (EPP) in pole position to take chair.

The Fisheries Committee (PECH) is one of the few to lose seats in the new legislature, dropping from 28 to 27 members. The list of members was published on Friday morning (19 July).

“I regret that maritime issues are no longer a European concern, despite the fact that the 20th century was a highly maritime century,” said the former chairman of the PECH committee between 2020 and 2024, Pierre Karleskind (Renew, FR).

Despite the reduction in committee members, this legislature will be crucial for the sector. Members of the European parliament (MEPs) will have their say on the renegotiation of the trade agreement with the United Kingdom in 2026, the United Nations conference on Oceans to be held in Nice in 2025, and the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP).

In addition, in her speech to the European Parliament on Thursday 18 July, the re-elected President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen announced a European Oceans Pact, and the designation of a new European Commissioner for Fisheries and Oceans.

During his tenure from 2019 to 2024, when he resigned to serve as an MEP, former Lithuanian European Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius headed EU policy on the environment, oceans and fisheries. The creation of this new stand-alone portfolio is a sign of the EU’s heightened sense of prioritising the sector.

Two for the top job

The presidency of the committee will be decided on 23 July, and could have a new political flavour. According to sources at the European Parliament, two names are in running, both members of the EPP and of the Spanish delegation: new MEP Carmen Crespo Díaz, already vice-coordinator of the Agriculture Committee, and Francisco José Millán Mon.

They are in political alignment with the EPP committee’s coordinator Gabriel Mato, who chaired PECH from 2009 to 2014. He “succeeded in transcending divisions,” said Karleskind, highlighting the report on the future of Common Fisheries Policy, drawn up by Mato and supported by Renew and the S&D.

Stéphanie Yon-Courtin (Renew,FR) could be in the running for vice-presidency. “We need a European Commissioner dedicated to fisheries,” said the MEP from Normandy, who was already a member of PECH during the last parliamentary term, she told Euractiv.

Yon-Courtin added that she will be fighting for a “stronger local base” for European fisheries, as well as for “the protection of resources in the face of climate change.”

Busy schedule

The MEPs have their work cut out, to say the least.

In 2026, part of the fisheries agreement with the United Kingdom will be renewed. Keeping fishing licences in British waters, valid since 2021 following Brexit, is at stake.

“We will have to maintain authorisations with the help of the Dutch and Belgians, find the right people to form alliances and talk to each other,” Isabelle Le Callennec MEP (EPP, FR) from Brittany, France’s leading fishing region, told Euractiv. The area lost almost 100 fishing boats since Brexit, as part of the fleet’s exit plan.

The CFP, which was last revised in 2013, will also have to be overhauled. “The two challenges will be to integrate food sovereignty, at a time when 70% of the seafood consumed in the EU is imported, and the issue of climate change,” according to Karleskind.

The development of aquaculture, and the impact of environmental measures on fishing capacity and quotas will also be on the agenda, combined with adaptation to climate change and the decarbonising and renewing of the EU fleet.

Bottom fishing will remain a contentious issue. In its Action Plan for 2023, the European executive suggested a gradual phase-out of this fishing technique by 2030. Greece, Sweden and the United Kingdom have recently announced bans and restrictions, while other countries defending bottom fishing as an essential part to their economic viability within the sector.

The geopolitical dimension could play an increasingly important role in the debate. “Today, there is an almost open war going on in the Pacific, over access to high waters for fishing and we have a tense relationship with China in all the world’s oceans,” added Karleskind. In his view the thawing of the Arctic Ocean and new shipping routes should also be the focus of attention.