They’ve Guam fishing

The Parliament makes sure it is represented in talks on Pacific island.

Never mind the practicalities, principles must be defended. Martin Schulz, the president of the European Parliament, filed a request to the European Commission in February to ensure that the Parliament would take part as an observer in the EU’s delegation to the Western and Central Pacific Fishing Commission (WCPFC). 

This was not surprising: since the advent of the Lisbon treaty the Parliament has been very protective of its prerogative to participate in such international negotiations. The talks started on Monday (26 March) and are scheduled to last until Saturday (30 March).

However, Schulz and the leaders of the Parliament’s political groups, meeting as the conference of presidents, decided that because the fisheries committee had already used up its annual quota of trips outside the EU, only one MEP should be sent.

Carmen Fraga Estévez, a Spanish centre-right MEP, a former chairwoman of the committee, was the chosen delegate. Isabella Lövin, a Swedish Green MEP, said she too would attend, but would pay her own way and not be an official member of the EU delegation.

The conference of presidents added another condition: the MEP observer would have to be back in time to attend this week’s plenary session, taking place yesterday and today (28-29 March).

So Fraga Estévez is flying all the way to Guam, an island in the Pacific where the talks are being held, only to come back again before the conference is halfway through. Which suggests that the Parliament is not too concerned about the outcome of the negotiations.