Post by tekmac on Jul 13, 2005 8:26:23 GMT -5
The European Union yesterday imposed a record €20m fine on France for flouting EU rules aimed at protecting Europe's dwindling fish stocks.
The Luxembourg-based European Court of Justice also decided to couple the €20m ($24m, £14m) fine with a penalty of €57.8m every six months until France can demonstrate that it is complying with the EU fisheries rules. The move was unprecedented and could herald a tougher response to cases of European governments violating EU legislation.
France had tried to argue that the court had no legal ground to combine a fine for past offences with a penalty linked to future behaviour.
The judgment may have reflected the length of the legal confrontation, which dates back to an initial court ruling in 1991 against France in a dispute between Brussels and Paris over whether French fishermen were breaking rules on net sizes stipulated by Brussels, and whether they were catching and selling undersized fish.
In spite of subsequent written warnings to Paris, Brussels said that its fisheries inspectors had found no sign of France coming into line with the EU rules.
The court said it had set the penalties "in light of the seriousness of the infringement and France's ability to pay".
The case also illustrates a wider problem about forcing EU member states to implement EU legislation.
Brussels is handling another 81 cases of infringement in the fisheries sector, 61 of which relate to overfishing, which has long been a contentious issue because of monitoring difficulties and disagreements about the reliability of fishing data.
Enforcement problems are more widespread and particularly prominent in EU policy areas such as environmental legislation.
The European Commission said that the ruling against France sent "a strong signal to member states that may be tempted to persistently ignore [EU] law that they have to pay a heavy price to do so". Brussels has highlighted failure by national governments to enforce agreed fishing curbs and impose appropriate penalties as one of the main reasons for dwindling fishing stocks.
The situation has worsened in the North Sea in particular, and prompted the UK's Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution last year to recommend an end to fishing in a third of the UK's waters.
However, Brussels has also come under criticism from environmental groups for failing to close off more fishing areas for depleted species such as cod.
The Luxembourg-based European Court of Justice also decided to couple the €20m ($24m, £14m) fine with a penalty of €57.8m every six months until France can demonstrate that it is complying with the EU fisheries rules. The move was unprecedented and could herald a tougher response to cases of European governments violating EU legislation.
France had tried to argue that the court had no legal ground to combine a fine for past offences with a penalty linked to future behaviour.
The judgment may have reflected the length of the legal confrontation, which dates back to an initial court ruling in 1991 against France in a dispute between Brussels and Paris over whether French fishermen were breaking rules on net sizes stipulated by Brussels, and whether they were catching and selling undersized fish.
In spite of subsequent written warnings to Paris, Brussels said that its fisheries inspectors had found no sign of France coming into line with the EU rules.
The court said it had set the penalties "in light of the seriousness of the infringement and France's ability to pay".
The case also illustrates a wider problem about forcing EU member states to implement EU legislation.
Brussels is handling another 81 cases of infringement in the fisheries sector, 61 of which relate to overfishing, which has long been a contentious issue because of monitoring difficulties and disagreements about the reliability of fishing data.
Enforcement problems are more widespread and particularly prominent in EU policy areas such as environmental legislation.
The European Commission said that the ruling against France sent "a strong signal to member states that may be tempted to persistently ignore [EU] law that they have to pay a heavy price to do so". Brussels has highlighted failure by national governments to enforce agreed fishing curbs and impose appropriate penalties as one of the main reasons for dwindling fishing stocks.
The situation has worsened in the North Sea in particular, and prompted the UK's Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution last year to recommend an end to fishing in a third of the UK's waters.
However, Brussels has also come under criticism from environmental groups for failing to close off more fishing areas for depleted species such as cod.