The hearing of Karmenu Vella, Commissioner-designate for Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries took place today before the joint sitting of the European Parliament’s Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety and Committee on Fisheries.
Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) interviewed Karmenu Vella for over three hours to get a picture of this commitment to sustainability and his views on future dossiers. In his interview Vella mentioned to continue the resigning Commissioner Maria Damanaki’s fight against the illegal fishing (IUU), to implement the CFP and that science and not politics are to decide annual fishing quotas. He furthermore said he is open to consider deep-sea mining however only after thorough scientific analysis, but refrained to make commitments
It is our hope that, if appointed Commissioner, Karmenu Vella will show strong leadership and commitment to the issues addressed above. Vella does not only have challenging issues such as the implementation of the reformed CFP to embark upon but he is also under pressure to live up to the high expectations set by his predecessor.