EU countries They agreed this Tuesday on fishing quotas and limits in the Mediterranean for 2025 after many hours of negotiations, especially due to the blockade of Spain, France and Italy to an “unacceptable” proposal from the European Commission which proposed reducing the fleet by 79%, leaving the annual fishing days at only 27, which caused the mobilization of the sector. The final agreement will be explained this Wednesday morning by the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Luis Planas, in a press conference.
The agreement was reached when the second day of the summit was approaching, after that they were planted from Madrid, Rome and Paris, the three capitals most affected by the situation in the Mediterraneanwhich has been the part that has aroused the most friction; The green light was given after the Commission’s approach, rejected from the beginning, and also once an alternative from the Hungarian presidency of the Council had been analyzed which, on the other hand, did not mention the most divisive elements (it did refer to example to the Atlantic).
At the moment, little more information has emerged from the Spanish delegation. “The agreement reached in the EU Agriculture and Fisheries Council will allow maintain fish stocks at sustainable levels and protect the marine environmentwhile also considering the viability of the sector,” summarized the Hungarian presidency of the Council.
“It is a very complex negotiation,” assumed the Minister of Agriculture before entering the conclave, while recognizing progress and a good global perspective with regard to the Atlantic. “I can’t say the same about the Mediterranean,” he warned. “We find the Commission’s proposal unacceptable because It means not taking into account the efforts made by fishermen in the last 5 years. We have reduced the number of working days by up to 40%,” summarized Planas, who defends that Spain wants “a balance between profitability and sustainability.” In general, the Government described the basis set by Brussels as “unacceptable.”
During the last hours several proposals were circulated by the Hungarian presidency, but it was not until after midnight on Tuesday that the green light was seen, with the details in the air at first. “From the point of view this proposal is also nonsense. Spain has 3,500 km of Mediterranean coast; The end of bottom trawling activity could have a very high impact from the point of view of employment. Spain is not willing to do this. We will only support an agreement that defends the interests of our fishermen,” Luis Planas concluded before journalists on Monday when only the Commission’s proposal was being handled.