91998E3471

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3471/98

by Daniel Varela Suanzes-Carpegna (PPE) to the Commission

(25 November 1998)

Subject: Regulating fishing activities in the south-west Atlantic

In its answer of 26 January 1998 to Written Question E-3951/97(1), drafted against the backdrop of the seizure of the Community vessel Arpón and stemming from the need to clarify the Argentinian EEZ, the Commission reported that "the European Community and Argentina are involved in a joint project to create a multilateral system of cooperation in managing and protecting the resources of the south-west Atlantic. The Commission will raise the problem in this context, at the most appropriate time".

In view of the fact that no significant headway has been made on this matter since then, that consequently the legal uncertainty in the zone persists, owing to the inadequate demarcation of the Argentinian EEZ, and that setting up a multilateral international organisation (SAFO) in the zone serves as a guarantee for developing Community fishing activities in international waters:

1. Will the Commission provide information on the current state of the negotiations?

2. What reasons lie behind the failure to make significant headway in the said negotiations?

3. When does the Commission expect the negotiating period to end, thus enabling the SAFO to be set up?

Answer given by Mrs Bonino on behalf of the Commission

(15 January 1999)

On 19 January 1998 the Council adopted a negotiating mandate for establishment of a framework for managing fishery resources in certain south-west Atlantic high-seas waters.

Since then the Commission has been maintaining contact with Argentina for the purpose of defining what framework is in fact best suited to the nature of the region. These talks are progressing normally.

Since the aim is to establish a multilateral framework, a meeting of all interested parties will be called when the time is right for this.

(1) OJ C 310, 9.10.1998, p. 5.