Strasburg ,Dec 14, 2011(SPS) The European Parliament voted on Wednesday to reject a proposed extension of the EU-Morocco fisheries agreement, by 296 votes to 326, with 58 abstentions, according to the EP website.
The current protocol, which has applied provisionally since 28 February 2011, will cease to apply immediately.
MEPs voted in favour of a report drafted by Carl Haglund (ALDE, FI) which called on Parliament not to extend the current arrangements, mainly for economic, ecological and legal reasons. In so doing, they rejected a Fisheries Committee proposal to extend the contested protocol
Mr Haglund argued that the one-year extension of the current protocol was unacceptable under the terms proposed by the European Commission because, it does not respect international law and benefits all affected local populations, including the Sahrawi people. (SPS)
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