As the State holding the Presidency of the EU Council, Slovenia will organise in the margins of the Agriculture and Fisheries Council an informal meeting of EU Fisheries Ministers.  The purpose of the meeting is to exchange opinions at the highest level on the reform of the fisheries control system and the formulation of guidelines for the future work of the European Commission. The informal ministerial meeting is of particular importance in the light of recent criticism of enforcing EU Common Fisheries Policy rules.

In December 2007, the European Court of Auditors published a Special Report on the control, inspection and sanction systems relating to the rules on conservation of Community fisheries resources. The Report deals with three major components of the EU Common Fisheries Policy (limitation of catch volumes, fisheries data and inspection and sanction systems).  The Court of Auditors assessed that the continuing current situation in the three areas would have a severe impact on fishery resources as well as on the future of the EU fishing industry.

The reform of the Common Fisheries Policy control system is therefore the European Commission's priority task in fisheries for the year 2008. The objective of the reform is to improve the enforcement of the EU Common Fisheries Policy rules, to simplify the control and monitoring of fishing activities and to increase the use of information technology tools in fisheries reporting.

The Slovenian Presidency expects the forthcoming informal discussion to lead to conclusions that will help the European Commission in its reform of Common Fisheries Policy control legislation, thereby contributing to the effective implementation of Common Fisheries Policy rules.

Slovenian Minister for Agriculture, Forestry and Food Mr Iztok Jarc and European Commissioner Joe Borg will hold press conferences at the end of the session at 2 pm at Sofitel Brussels Europe hotel (near Place Jourdan).