While considering how to write a blog on the latest developments on Europe’s bumpy road to fisheries reform, I decided to take a step back in time. Eleven months ago I wrote this blog explaining where the discussions were at, what was still on the table, and outlining a number of areas of concern.
Fast forward to June 2013 and the (extended) process to reform the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) is in a remarkably similar place after another crucial, but opaque, meeting of EU fisheries ministers last week.
The pessimist in me (who gets out quite often, as it happens) would say that this showed a lack of ambition, a lack of progress, failure of an ever-extended process, and ever more spin from the politicians involved.
But having been around for a number of year,s I know now that no EU legislative process is a fun-fest. EU law-making and Brussels politicking is rarely as upbeat as the average Eurovision song contest entry, and the outcome of votes and horse-trading is likely to be even more complicated and infuriating.
In physics they refer to the second law of thermodynamics, where things show a tendency to fall apart and get more chaotic over time (if you have 5 minutes you can listen to Professor Brian Cox explain that with sandcastles).
EU legislative processes are not much different. Left to their own devices, they will get weaker.
So I have to say that I am sceptically optimistic that so many crucial elements of the Common Fisheries Policy reform are still on the table, since it means the pressures and temptations to water down, block and obfuscate have been countered by pressure to deliver real reform.
That pressure has come from real people. Like you.
We saw evidence of that last week in the pressure our own minister, Richard Benyon, was under. We have seen environmental groups, celebrity chefs, coastal fishermen, retailers and others come together to demand that ministers stand firm and deliver what is needed. We have seen an unprecedented response to public pressure in February’s vote in the European parliament, on an issue that has become a political hot potato.
That potato has now been tossed back and forth between Europe’s parliamentarians, and Europe’s governments. It’s now well and truly in the air.
Last week’s meeting was supposed to give a ‘final’ negotiating position for Europe’s fisheries ministers collectively: the agreed line in the sand from them on what they will accept in CFP reform. From the perspective of most NGOs, that agreed position was weak.
It is now up to closed door three-way conversations between representatives of the EU parliament (who have a progressive position), the ministers, and the European Commission to see if an agreement can be reached. If it can, there will need to be compromise. How much from each side is yet to be seen, so it’s hard to predict what it could look like.
Yes, we should be wary that there are attempts to water down a discard ban, but we shouldn’t be surprised either. Perhaps we should be more surprised that the general concept of phasing out discards on commercially fished EU species is still in there at this stage.
We should also be encouraged that there is still an ambition in there to rebuild fish stocks, but rightly alarmed that there seems to be no agreed process on how to get there.
Deals, derogations and horse trading were always going to happen. We might not like it, but we can still strive for the best possible outcome in the laws drawn up, and then hold our governments to account in delivering them in the way they were intended.
It’s sometimes easy to hide behind the complexity and frustrations caused by Brussels, but we shouldn’t let that be an excuse. As we argued in court, there is much that can be done at a national level to make things better and start redressing the balance.
If we want to have healthy seas and coastal communities in the decades to come, then we need to decide what we value, and what we support. Then we need to make sure our ministers don’t just issue a press release from Brussels en route to the Eurostar, but they actually make a difference when they get home too.
Now is the time to keep up the pressure, because we need the best deal possible, for our seas, and those who depend on them. Show your support.
