MEPs refuse to take the Iberian bait

Date: 02/11/00

The battle over the future of the Common Fisheries Policy has begun, even though a formal review is not due to take place until 2002.

Two largely technical reports on the policy are now going through the European Parliament's fisheries committee and have attracted well over 200 amendments - mostly from the Spanish and Portuguese hoping to rush through a deal under which all EU fish would be obliged to carry Iberian passports.

The flood of amendments has been a nightmare for translators: English versions of the texts were available less than 24 hours before the committee meeting, while German-language copies were supplied with less than six hours to go.

But the Iberian campaign to steer the CFP debate its way amid the general confusion has suffered a setback.

Some MEPs have managed to postpone a vote on the reports by insisting that members needed more time to study the texts of the amendments in detail.

Such sneaky, underhand tactics have left the Portuguese and Spanish contingents muttering darkly about their conniving colleagues and vowing to come up with new plans to win what promises to be a bloody battle for control of Europe's high seas.