Since the 1st of January, Croatia has taken over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union. Every six months, one of the 27 Member States of the EU takes the Presidency of the Council. Less than 7 years after its accession, the most recent EU Member State will chair the different Council’s formations and try to reach a consensus on various European legislations. Croatia will hold the Presidency until the 31st of June 2020 and then hand it over to Germany for a new period of six months.
At the occasion of her presentation in front of the Fisheries Committee, Marija Vučković, Minister of Agriculture, highlighted the priorities of the Croatian in relation to fisheries and oceans:
- Advancing the negotiations on the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund, keeping the focus on funding to reduce pollution at sea and to support fishers to adapt to climate change. Measures contributing to the development and pushing for more investments in sustainable fisheries will receive special attention.
- The Presidency also wants to reach a general approach (common position of the 27 EU Member States) on the proposal for the revision of the fisheries control system.
- Finally, Croatia wants to ensure an appropriate mandate and a strong cooperation between EU institutions on the agreement with the UK after Brexit.
Regarding freshwater-related issues, contrarily to what was initially planned, the Croatian Presidency decided to not discuss the results of the fitness check on the Water Framework Directive (WFD) during the spring’s Environment Council in order to focus on the EU Biodiversity Strategy. The hope is that the German Presidency will seize the opportunity to present Council’s conclusions on the issue.
References:
The programme of the Croatian Presidency is available
here
The EAA/EFTTA position on the revision of the control regulation is available
here
An article by EAA on the EMFF is available
here
For more information on the results of the fitness check on the Water Framework Directive please visit the Living Rivers Europe’s website:
https://www.livingrivers.eu/