Spanish Minister Miguel Arias Cañete trust negotiations between the EU and Morocco will progress soon. (Photo: La Moncloa)
EUROPEAN UNIONWednesday, February 06, 2013, 00:50 (GMT + 9)
The head of the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment (Magrama), Miguel Arias Cañete, expressed having "the impression" that Morocco and the European Union (EU) "may soon reach an agreement”.
The Spanish minister said during an interview with Onda Cero that many vessels of Andalusia, the Canary Islands and Galicia are now "at a standstill", so the resumption of fishing "can come in handy" to Spain.
"Morocco has superb relations with Spain at this time," said the minister.
The official added, "My relationship with my Moroccan counterpart is very smooth and gives the impression that you we can reach an agreement reasonably soon."
The EU ambassador in Morocco, the Spanish Eneko Landaburu, is also optimistic about the future bilateral fishing agreement, which could be confirmed in "a few weeks", AFP reported.
"We have been able to restart a negotiation in a short while and now it is moving on, and I hope it will conclude in a few weeks," said the diplomat.
"We've come a long way in solving a number of technical problems on the types of fish available to catch and the type of boats and fishing gears that will be allowed," he added.
In Landaburu’s opinion, the atmosphere is "excellent" and "there is a will on both sides to reach a good result."
While acknowledging that the compensation issue is still pending, which is a complicated matter, he was hopeful, "From my point of view, I think there will be an agreement by the end of March," he said.
Furthermore, the minister Arias Cañete mentioned the agreement signed between the EU and Mauritania and described it as “downright negative" for Spain, so "efforts are made to renegotiate it."
"Spain is supporting the European Commission to reopen the negotiations and thus the Galician fleet may have chances of catching cephalopods and the Andalusian shellfish fleets may have more reasonable fishing areas," he added.
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- Spain sees good prospects in the EU-Morocco fisheries agreement