Big fish eats small fish.

The ongoing public hearings of the future European Commissioners before the European Parliament pose many questions and many doubts.

Last week, we observed the grilling of both Karmenu Vella, a candidate Commissioner for Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries and Miguel Cañete- for Climate Action and Energy.

Today, the hearing of Maltese Karmenu Vella, Commissioner-designate for Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries took place before the joint sitting of the European Parliament’s Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety and Committee on Fisheries. Karmenu Vella has been interviewed by MEPs for over three hours on his commitment to sustainability and views on his future dossier.

Earlier this week, several European political and social actors met up for the second time in the European Parliament to categorically oppose Repsol’s plans for oil prospects in waters off the Canary Islands (Lanzarote and Fuerteventura), a project authorized by the Spanish government.

Last Monday, the countries around the Baltic Sea invited stakeholders to discuss fisheries management issues at the Baltic Sea Fisheries Forum, known as BALTFISH. BALTFISH is an informal group established by the fisheries administrations around the Baltic Sea, where they discuss fisheries management issues that only concern the Baltic Sea area in order to facilitate the EU fisheries Council negotiations – regionalization of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) put into practice.