The row over Common Fisheries Policy reform has become the defining fight of the European Commission’s new Vision for Fisheries and Aquaculture 2040, published on 20 October. The fifteen-year strategy promises sustainable production, resilient supply chains and better access to finance, yet it stops short of proposing a targeted revision of the rulebook that governs every EU fishing boat. That omission has united industry groups and Parliament’s fisheries chair in disappointment, while leaving environmental organisations quietly relieved.
Fisheries Commissioner Costas Kadis framed the plan as a bargain between income and ecology, arguing that a fair income for fishers and fish farmers depends on a healthy marine environment. Cohesion Commissioner Raffaele Fitto described the goal as a sector that is competitive, sustainable and fit for the future. The Commission admits that the landing obligation has not delivered the expected results on unwanted catch, and it promises a stakeholder dialogue on technology and fully documented fisheries later this year.
The practical commitments are concrete in places. Brussels proposes reserving at least 2 billion euros for core fisheries functions in the 2028-2034 budget through national and regional partnership plans, with further money possible from the European Competitiveness Fund. It also plans a legislative instrument on aquaculture licensing by the end of 2027, a Blue Generational Renewal Strategy in 2027 and digital traceability across the supply chain by 2029. Those pledges sit alongside, rather than replace, the argument over Common Fisheries Policy reform.
For Europêche, the European Transport Workers’ Federation, EFFAT and Copa-Cogeca, none of this substitutes for Common Fisheries Policy reform. They argue that the policy was last comprehensively overhauled in 2013 and cannot cope with shrinking fleets, disappearing jobs, higher energy costs and climate change through implementation guidance alone. Europêche president Javier Garat called a vision without a revision of the policy a dead letter, warning that the existing framework could otherwise survive until 2040.
Parliament’s Fisheries Committee chair, Carmen Crespo Díaz of the EPP, has turned that frustration over Common Fisheries Policy reform into a timetable. She wants the Commission to reflect the call in its 2027 work programme and table a proposal in the first half of 2027, so that Parliament and the Council can finish before the current term ends. She also points to gaps in the Vision, including no plan to amend the Western Mediterranean multiannual plan and no answer for the 87 areas closed to bottom fishing under the deep-sea access rules.
Environmental and small-scale fishing groups read the Common Fisheries Policy reform question differently. Seas At Risk and Low Impact Fishers of Europe welcomed the recognition of coastal communities and an ecosystem-based approach, but they warned that budget priorities could still favour industrial fleets. Seas At Risk director Monica Verbeek said the policy already contains the tools needed, a view shared by the Environmental Justice Foundation, which argues that the missing ingredient is the will to close implementation gaps.
The next test comes quickly, because ministers at the Agriculture and Fisheries Council on 26 and 27 October aim to agree 2027 Baltic Sea fishing opportunities and prepare the EU position for the ICCAT annual meeting. Parliament has said it could launch a legislative own-initiative report under Article 225 of the Treaty if the Commission does not move by the end of 2026. Common Fisheries Policy reform may therefore be decided less by the Vision itself than by whether MEPs force the issue.
