Council Decision (EU) 2022/1448 of 18 July 2022 on the conclusion of the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement between the European Union and the Islamic Republic of Mauritania and the Implementing Protocol thereto

What it is

to conclude the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement between the European Union and the Islamic Republic of Mauritania and the Protocol implementing that Agreement. ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: Council may adopt the act only if Parliament has given its consent to the act. BACKGROUND: the Fisheries Partnership Agreement (FPA) between Mauritania and the European Community entered into force on 8 August 2008 for a period of six years. The agreement is renewable by tacit agreement and is therefore still in force. A previous four-year protocol for the implementation of the FPA (2015-2019) was extended twice, each time for a period of one year. It expires on 15 November 2021. BACKGROUND: the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement between the European Union and the Islamic Republic of Mauritania and its implementing protocol having been signed, the Partnership Agreement and the protocol should be approved. CONTENT: the Council draft concerns the approval, on behalf of the Union, of the Partnership Agreement on sustainable fisheries between the European Union and the Islamic Republic of Mauritania and its implementing Protocol . The objectives of the Partnership Agreement and the Protocol are to enable EU vessels to carry out their fishing activities in Mauritanian waters and to enable the EU and the Islamic Republic of Mauritania to work closely together in order to continue to promote the development of a sustainable fisheries policy and the responsible exploitation of fisheries resources in Mauritania's fishing zone and in the Atlantic Ocean, in accordance with the objective of conservation of marine biological resources recognised in Union law. This cooperation also helps to establish decent working conditions in the fisheries sector. The Partnership Agreement establishes a Joint Committee responsible for monitoring the application of the Partnership Agreement and the Protocol. The Joint Committee may approve certain amendments to the Protocol. The Commission will be authorised, subject to specific substantive and procedural conditions, to approve these amendments on behalf of the Union under a simplified procedure. The Union's position on the proposed amendments to the Protocol will have to be established by the Council. The proposed amendments will have to be approved unless a blocking minority of Member States objects to them. The Partnership Agreement and the Protocol should enter into force as soon as possible, given the economic importance of the Union's fishing activities in Mauritania's fishing zone and the need to avoid or reduce as far as possible the period during which these activities are interrupted. The European Parliament adopted by 557 votes to 34, with 31 abstentions, a legislative resolution on the draft Council decision on the conclusion of the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement between the European Union and the Islamic Republic of Mauritania and the Implementing Protocol thereto. Parliament gave its consent to the conclusion of the agreement. The agreement will allow French, German, Irish, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese and Spanish vessels to fish for tuna, small…

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