The Irish Presidency has a new feather in its cap: the Council and European Parliament hammered out an agreement, during the night of 29 May, on reform of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). All the parties applauded this "radical change". The phase-out of over-fishing from 2014 and the programmed elimination of discards should make EU fishing more sustainable. Rarely has a deal, as hard as it was to strike, won unanimous support from all the key actors, from Council President Simon Coveney to Commissioner Maria Damanaki (fisheries), representatives of the EP, rapporteur Ulrike Rodust (S&D, Germany) and PECH committee Chair Gabriel Mato Adrover (EPP, Spain), as well as environmental organisations.
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