EC/Mozambique Fisheries Partnership Agreement

The Committee on Fisheries adopted - under the consultation procedure and subject to amendments - the report by Emanuel Jardim FERNANDES (PES, PT) on the proposal for a Council regulation on the conclusion of the Fisheries Partnership Agreement between the European Community and the Republic of Mozambique.

The committee tabled various amendments aimed at improving the information forwarded to the European Parliament.

Moreover, the report calls for the European Community's financial contribution to be used for the development of coastal populations living on fisheries and the creation of small industrial fish freezing and processing enterprises at local level.

The committee requests that the Commission evaluate each year whether Member States whose vessels are covered by the Protocol have complied with reporting requirements. Where this is not the case, the Commission shall withhold their requests for fishing licences for the following year. In order to evaluate whether the compensation paid by the EU is properly accounted for and does in fact promote the sustainable use of fishery resources in Mozambique, the Commission should report annually to Parliament.

The Commission shall forward to the European Parliament the conclusions of the meetings of the joint committee.

During the final year of the Protocol's validity and before another agreement is concluded on its renewal, the Commission shall submit to the European Parliament and the Council a report on the application of the agreement and the conditions under which it was implemented.

On the basis of the annual report and after consulting the European Parliament, the Council shall, where appropriate, grant the Commission a negotiating mandate with a view to the adoption of a new protocol.