The Spanish government is seeking the support of the European Parliament for the ratification of the new fisheries agreement between the European Union (EU) and Morocco.
The head of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment (Magrama), Miguel Arias Cañete, was planning to meet on Monday and Tuesday with those responsible for the parliamentary committees and different political groups in the European Parliament (EP) to boost their support to the fisheries agreement.
The Spanish Minister will meet with the president of the EP Committee on Fisheries, Gabriel Mato, and with the MEP Carmen Fraga, who is in charge of writing the report that the EP will vote on the agreement with the Moroccan government.
He will also talk to the Portuguese MEP of the Social-Democrat Group (PS & D), Luis Capoulas Santos, and with President of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the EP, Elmar Brok; and is to meet with the president of the European People’s Party (EPP), Joseph Daul.
In addition, he plans to meet with the heads of delegations and representatives of the EP Spanish parties.
The minister’s trip takes place at the same time as the EP plenary debates in Strasbourg (France), which this week will cast its vote on the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF), which will determine the aids to the fisheries sector over the next seven years.
The bilateral fisheries agreement must still be ratified by the EU and Morocco. And although it will be considered by the Council of Ministers and by the European Parliament, for Arias Cañete it is more worrying to be granted MEPs’ support, as the former fishing agreement was suspended because the Parliament vetoed it in 2011.
At that time, the EP ruled that the protocol was not sufficiently respecting people’s rights in Western Sahara. That caused the termination of the agreement and the return to Spain of vessels from Andalusia and Canary Islands that were fishing in Moroccan fishing grounds, the agency EFE reports.
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