Sinkevicius supports “responding to the concerns” of the processing industry
During the last weeks, the information that reached the fishing association Europêche and even the European Fisheries Alliance (EUFA, in its acronym in English, formed to bring together the defense of the sector against Brexit) is that Brussels is working on including tariff quotas for species such as mackerel or herring that arrive from Norway.
The reason given by Sinkevicius is that on April 30 the bilateral pacts with the countries that are part of the European Economic Area (EEA). In the case of Norway, “the negotiations for a new bilateral agreement will begin shortly with the aim of its entering into force at the beginning of 2023,” said the commissioner, so since May 1, both this country and Iceland (which , like Faroe, it was also awarded a share of mackerel) no longer benefited from preferential access to the Community market.
According to Sinkevicius, who was responding to a letter from the sector in light of the problems Norway was having with cod, “This affects Norwegian and Icelandic exporters”, even if “It also has a negative impact on EU importers, especially with regard to imports of raw materials for processing ”. For this reason, this modification of the ATQ regulation has been proposed, in which Spain has also seen a gap to include squid that arrives from Malvinas, islands excluded from the agreement signed between London and Brussels by Brexit.
The Fisheries Commissioner assures that it will have a “limited duration” and “tailored” to the industry
However, European shipowners understand that this measure would benefit the Nordic country, which unilaterally removed cod quota from the EU in Svalbard waters (archipelago to the north of Norway) and that recently self-awarded a quota of mackerel, the same that are captured by the coastal states of the northeast Atlantic, including the Galician fleet. The latter is what the fishing sector takes hold to make Brussels change its position. “Although they continue forward, it does not seem that they are going to change the course,” they lament from EUFA.
Sinkevicius also assured that this advantage for the Nordic country would have a “limited duration” and that it would be “tailored” to the industry. For this reason, Europêche fears that the ATQs will not be used as a form of pressure against the Nordic country, as they had urgently requested.
– .
