European Parliament
Catherine Grèze  (Verts/ALE ),
in writing.
(FR)
After 16 years of the Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance systematically rejecting fisheries agreements with unsustainable environmental and social impacts, we have now decided to take each case on an individual basis. Regarding the agreement with Guinea-Bissau, it was suspended for one year due to its failure to comply with human rights. I therefore abstained today on this agreement. On the one hand, there have been significant improvements with regard to human rights, but there is still a long way to go. While the fisheries sector accounts for 7% of the Guinean-Bissau economy, without this agreement, the Union would be sending a message of ‘abandonment’ and there would be the obvious risk of leaving the industry in the hands of the Mafia. On the other hand, the agreement does not provide a satisfactory response to the environmental and social impacts, in particular for small-scale fishermen.

