Agriculture and Fisheries Council

Thursday 16th January 2020 Written Statements

[The Minister of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (George Eustice)]

I represented the UK at the Agriculture and Fisheries Council in Brussels on 16, 17 and 18 December.

On fisheries, the focus of the Council was EU quota negotiations, involving decisions on fishing opportunities for the next year for quota stocks in the North sea, Atlantic, the English channel, Irish and Celtic seas. Fishing opportunities are set under the rules of the reformed common fisheries policy, which aims to have all stocks fished at sustainable levels by 2020 at the latest.

Prior to the Council, a number of negotiations had taken place with third countries, such as EUNorway, which set fishing opportunities for certain stocks. The EU share of these opportunities were endorsed at the Council.

This year member states agreed on significant cuts in cod quotas due to scientific concerns on the state of cod stocks in the Irish Sea, west of Scotland and Celtic sea.

The UK took a lead on setting zero total allowable catch (TAC) for Celtic cod, which ensured that the agreed quota would allow the Celtic sea fleet to avoid being tied up before they fished their target species quota.

To further protect vulnerable cod stocks, the UK has also successfully pushed for enhanced rules on sustainable fishing practices such as changing net sizes, to help cod stocks recover.

Concerning seabass, Ministers decided to slightly increase the by-catch levels in the northern areas and grant additional flexibility in their management. The bag limit for seabass recreational fisheries was set to two specimen per fisherman per day under certain conditions, and only from 1 March to 30 November 2020 for northern seabass.

Total fishing opportunities agreed for 2020 included increased quotas for:

North sea haddock (+23%)

Sole in the western channel (+19%)

The Commission also provided a general approach on regulations on Baltic cod and western fisheries herring. It announced that it will take measures to help fishermen cope with the harmful socioeconomic effects of the severe fishing restrictions on cod and western herring in the Baltic sea that are already in place and agreed for 2020.

The primary focus for agriculture was a debate on the post-2020 CAP reform package, including three legislative proposals: the first on CAP strategic plans; the second on financing, management and monitoring of the CAP; and the third on common market organisation (CMO) of agricultural products. The Commission proposed a new delivery model that would allow member states more flexibility in the way they use EU funds and would allow them to tailor their programmes.

In the discussion that followed, EU member states’ Ministers broadly welcomed the report, considering it as a good basis for continuing work under the incoming Croatian presidency. They indicated that the “new delivery model” and the “green architecture” were the main elements requiring further debate, the latter also in light of the recently published “European Green Deal” communication. Amongst further issues, interventions in certain sectors and coupled support were also mentioned as elements which should be discussed further. Ministers stressed the importance for the agricultural budget to be in line with the proposed enhanced environmental and climate ambition.

The Council also adopted a conclusion on EU action to protect the world’s forests during a ministerial lunch debate. Member states welcomed the Commission’s political guidance on protecting and restoring the world’s forests.

Five other items were discussed separately under “any other business”:

The presidency informed the Council of the issue with long-term funding of the EU minor use of pesticides co-ordination facility (EUMUCF).

The French delegation informed Council about their views on informing consumers about the origin of food products.

The presidency updated Council about the conclusions on the updated EU bioeconomic strategy.

The Spanish and French delegations updated Council about the impact of US tariffs on European agrifood products.

The Czech delegation informed Council of budget flexibility within the European maritime and fisheries fund 2014-2020.

[HCWS42]