mr president beyond congratulating mr romeva i rueda on his report i would like to address the content in the wider context of the common fisheries policy
in the last ten years i have heard many criticisms of it including the lack of a level playing field insufficient stakeholder involvement inadequate balancing of economic social and environmental imperatives and too much by way of micro-management from the centre
recently though i have been able to assure people that the policy is undergoing significant change
of course there is still a long way to go eliminating discards for example and there are times when the commission still seems to veer towards micro-management
i mention here article forty-seven of the control regulation at least in its original version
i have often said though that the common fisheries policy is a bit like an oil tanker it takes a considerable time to turn round and i do believe that the control regulation will go a long way to achieving the necessary level playing field where enforcement and sanctions are concerned just as the development of regional advisory councils shall do much to bring improvements in other respects
so i would like to finish on a personal note by expressing my appreciation of the valuable work done by members of the fisheries committee throughout and by thanking commissioner borg and his team for all that has been achieved in their five years at the helm
