Press Release: Common Fisheries Policy: Commission launches a mid-term review

The European Commission endorsed a paper put forward by Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Joe Borg containing an analysis of the achievements and shortcomings of the functioning of the Common Fisheries Policy further to its reform in 2002. While Commissioners agreed that the 2002 Reform package had done much to improve the way EU fisheries are managed, a number of challenges continued to exist. Short-term decision-making coupled with irresponsible behaviour by certain parts of the industry, continued to penalise those fishermen who act for the common good. The result is a vicious circle which has undermined both the ecological balance of our oceans and the economic profitability of the sector. The Commission therefore proposed that a full review of the CFP should be launched immediately, in order to prepare the ground for a major reform of the institutional framework of European fisheries management.