Government welcomes council agreement on CFP package

At 6.20am today, the Council of Ministers brought the negotiations on the Common Fisheries Policy reform to a conclusion.

Last year the Council agreed a "general approach" and the Parliament had put forward its agreed position. Over the last number of months the Irish Presidency team led by Simon Coveney TD, has been engaged in negotiations with the European Commission and the European Parliament in order to work out a compromise deal.

One of the reforms, pushed forward by the Maltese government, was that fishermen from EU member states should not face discrimination because a third country would have failed to implement measures agreed by EU member states.

The Maltese government said this was an important milestone for the Maltese fishermen and the sustainability of fishing in the Mediterranean Sea.

On the insistence of parliamentary secretary Roderick Galdes, the EU's Agriculture and Fisheries Council agreed to include the final text as part of the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy.

In a statement, the government said the addition of this text would bring to an end uncertainty and discrimination faced by the Maltese fishermen.

"The reformed text stipulates that fishermen hailing from European Union member states cannot be discriminated because of shortcomings in the implementation measures by third countries," the government said.

It said that the Mediterranean's geo-political reality calls for conservation efforts to be carried out by both EU member states and non-EU members.

"This reality is now reflected in the Council's text which will lead to concrete efforts in implementing joint management measures."

The government said Malta looked towards a more sustainable Mediterranean with health fish stocks that guarantee attractive economic profits for the fishing sector.

Galdes expressed his satisfaction that the Council had now recognised the fundamental role which third parties played.

The text must now be approved by the European Parliament.