EU ministers fail to agree new fisheries deal

The European Union has failed for the second time in less than a year to agree on how to spend a multi-million-euro package on…

The European Union has failed for the second time in less than a year to agree on how to spend a multi-million-euro package on its embattled fisheries sector.

The plan for the next seven years' spending has been on the table since July 2004, with a budget of €3.8 billion. The last time ministers tried to agree on future funding was in June 2005, but the meeting ended in deadlock.

The most controversial area concerned EU aid for replacing engines for small-scale vessels as well as cash for modernising boats - concepts that angered northern states worried about chronically low stocks depleted after years of overfishing.

This is where EU countries have often clashed in a rough north-south divide, with France, Spain, Italy, Greece and Portugal - backed by new members Poland and Estonia - demanding the right for a straight swap of engine if required.

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This view runs against those held by countries such as Britain, Denmark, Germany, Sweden and The Netherlands who fear that generous engine replacement rules may cause more overfishing when EU policy aims to protect threatened species like cod.

Belgium, Britain and Germany voted against the final compromise deal, while Poland abstained. This was enough to scupper the 2007-13 deal, sending it to Finland's incoming EU presidency starting on July 1st when it takes over from Austria.