Planas: The unity of EU countries has been key to reaching a fisheries agreement with the UK

EU fisheries ministers today held an informal meeting by videoconference to give their opinion on the text pre-agreed by the Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, Virginijus Sinkevicius, and the British Secretary of State, Dominic Raab, which must now be formalised with the final written signature.

Planas has asked the Commission for the "greatest possible speed" to transpose the results into the Total Allowable Catch (TAC) and annual quota regulations "to give the fleets the necessary legal certainty".

"The result of the agreed figures is acceptable for Spain, and we are particularly grateful for the firm defence of the maintenance of TACs for species that could pose a choke problem due to the landing obligation, such as red sea bream and cod to the west of Scotland and the Celtic Sea," Planas explained. Hake, anglerfish and megrim are the main species for Spanish fishers in the area.

The minister highlighted the effort made by the European Commission to reach this difficult agreement, after five months of negotiations, and to avoid either no agreement at all or partial deals with certain member countries, a situation that "was not acceptable". For Planas, this agreement once again demonstrates that unity is the main strength of the European members.

Non official translation