Europêche, Europe’s fishing industry representative body, has praised the European Commission’s (EC) upcoming Omnibus Simplification Package, announced by EC President Ursula Von der Leyen on 25 February.
The package aims to streamline existing E.U. sustainability regulations, including the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), the E.U. Taxonomy Regulation, and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD).
"The package marks a significant first step towards addressing longstanding concerns about regulatory complexity and administrative burdens,” Europêche said in a release. “The fishing sector urges the Commission to go further and conduct a comprehensive review of fisheries and environmental policies to improve competitiveness while maintaining sustainability goals.”
The omnibus package is part of the Commission’s new Competitive Compass, the goal of which is to reduce administrative burdens on firms.
“We welcome this initiative as a first step, but the Commission must go deeper," Europêche Managing Director Daniel Voces. "A broader analysis of sectoral and environmental policies is essential to identify and eliminate unnecessary administrative burdens. Reducing red tape, where necessary, will improve competitiveness and ensure a more practical and sustainable regulatory framework for the European fishing industry.”
Europêche called for the EC to meet these goals by establishing a structured consultation with fisheries and stakeholders to better understand the regulatory challenges that were affecting them.
The organization added that since 2000, the E.U. fishing fleet has contracted by 28 percent and that full-time employment in the sector has dropped by 33 percent. It asked for the EC to consider “a practical revision that balances environmental sustainability with food security, economic viability, and reduced red tape” to ease the pressures that were contracting the sector.
