Compliance with all CFP rules should be a precondition for receiving funding

BirdLife Europe, Greenpeace, Oceana, OCEAN2012 and WWF work together for an ambitious reform of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) which should:

• restore fish stocks to healthy levels;  
• end overfishing by shifting to environmentally sustainable fishing practices; and  
• reduce damage to marine ecosystems.  

Making access to EU financial assistance conditional can be an important tool to incentivize implementation of the CFP – both for Member States and individual operators while ensuring effective use of public money. We are concerned that some proposals agreed in the General Approach adopted by the Council in June 2012 weaken the Commission’s proposal and in general undermine the objectives of the reform. We therefore ask Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) to support and further strengthen the provisions suggested by the Commission in Articles 50 and 51 of the Basic Regulation, and to counter  any proposals to water down these requirements.