Parliamentary Secretary Roderick Galdes outlines Maltese Presidency Priorities at the Council
27.01.2017
Parliamentary Secretary Roderick Galdes outlines Maltese Presidency Priorities at the Council
First Trialogue agreement under the Maltese Presidency
”We need healthy fish
stocks for a thriving EU
Sector and a strong
sector to be in a position
to exploit resources as
they reach their
maximum sustainable
yield”
Parliamentary Secretary and President of the EU Agrifish Council formation Roderick Galdes started the week by outlining Malta’s Presidency priorities at the Council on Monday 23rd January 2017. This was followed by another detailed presentation at the EU Parliament PECH Committee on the 25th January 2017.
Details on Malta’s ambitious programme were given and it was confirmed that the Presidency is envisaging intense work on crucial files such as the new Technical Measures Regulation, the External Fleets Regulation, the North Sea Plan, and a large number of other files.
The Commission’s MEDFISH4EVER strategy was described as a top priority for the Maltese Presidency. Parliamentary Secretary Galdes explained that ‘the future of Mediterranean fish stocks and the predominately small scale fishery that depends on this, are of great importance for the Maltese Presidency’. Work on this strategy will culminate in Malta at a Conference (29th-30th March) with the highly anticipated signing of the ‘Malta Medfish4ever Declaration’. This initiative will build on the Venice declaration and is expected to result in a clear road map towards the common goal at attaining healthy fish stocks, to support a thriving fisheries sector by also guaranteeing a level playing field for all those involved.
Parliamentary Secretary Galdes insisted that ‘we need healthy fish stocks for a thriving EU Sector and a strong sector to be in a position to exploit resources as they reach their maximum sustainable yield.’
He also held a number of meetings that facilitated the work of the Maltese negotiation team to close the first ever trialogue negotiations with the European Parliament under the Maltese Presidency on 26th January 2017. This related to a Regulation that transposes applicable ISO standards into EU law.
Parliamentary Secretary Galdes welcomed the agreement and stated that ‘such an early agreement under the Maltese Presidency, the first one of the year, confirms Malta’s commitment in the field of fisheries and in particular our determination to bring forward better regulation.’
The Maltese fisheries team has virtually hit the ground running, also after forming an integral part of the Slovak Presidency team which attained remarkable results both within the European Parliament (agreement on the Fisheries Data Collection Framework) and Council (the unprecedented 4 unanimous agreements on quota Regulations).
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