Allister opposes EU corps of fishing inspectors
05 June 2008
In a debate in the European Parliament in Brussels, Traditional Unionist MEP, Jim Allister, strongly attacked a proposal before the Parliament for a new Regulation to deal with illegal fishing, which proposes that Brussels could set the criminal sanctions to be applied in member states and would have its own corps of inspectors. Seeing such as a further assault on the powers and rights of member states, Mr Allister had a clear "hands off" message for Brussels.
In the course of his remarks Mr Allister said:-
"Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing is indeed something to be stamped out.
There is much in this report with which I agree, but I do reject its attack on subsidiarity by demanding EU setting of criminal sanctions and the establishment of an EU corps of inspectors.
Likewise, I oppose the unnecessary additional bureaucracy of applying the regulation to EU flagged vessels, because these are already subject to the stiff provisions of the CFP. We don't need more regulation on our own fishermen to deal with third countries which continue with their rogue activities. Having seen punitive fines on local fishermen in the UK, I for one reject the suggestion that we need more and stiffer regulations and penalties on our own fleets."
