European Commission - Speech [Check Against Delivery] Speech by Commissioner Kadis on the Evaluation of the Common Fisheries Policy and Other Relevant Initiatives during the Structured Dialogue with the PECH Committee of the European Parliament Brussels, 3 June 2026 Dear Chair, Honourable members and colleagues, I am pleased to be back to the PECH committee. Today is a special day – not only because of our exchange h...
European Commission - Speech [Check Against Delivery] Speech by Commissioner Kadis on the Evaluation of the Common Fisheries Policy and Other Relevant Initiatives during the Structured Dialogue with the PECH Committee of the European Parliament Brussels, 3 June 2026 Dear Chair, Honourable members and colleagues, I am pleased to be back to the PECH committee. Today is a special day – not only because of our exchange here, but also because this morning the College adopted a landmark initiative for the ocean - the OceanEye, our new ocean observation initiative. I want to take a moment to speak about that before I turn to what we have all been eagerly awaiting – the evaluation of the Common Fisheries Policy Regulation. Ocean observation is key for protecting and restoring ocean health, for enabling a prosperous blue economy, as well as for strengthening the resilience and preparedness of coastal communities. It also contributes to maritime security, safety and defence. The OceanEye initiative adopted today, is designed to support the development and implementation of a comprehensive operational Ocean Observation System overcoming current fragmentation. It seeks to bring together existing European marine knowledge services in an operational European Digital Ocean System that is fed by both in situ and satellite observations. It will also launch an international alliance to support the Global Ocean Observing System and a global capacity development. I will count on the support of this House and this committee for this initiative. Turning now to the evaluation of the Regulation on the Common Fisheries Policy, let me briefly recall where we are coming from. When the current CFP regulation was adopted in 2013, fisheries and coastal communities in the EU were in a critical situation. Stocks were overfished and the economic situation for most of the EU fleets was bad despite high levels of subsidies. Jobs were mostly of low quality and the situation of many coastal communities depending on fishing was precarious. So where are we now more than 10 years after the last revision of the CFP regulation? On the positive side, clear progress was achieved in reducing overfishing - the proportion of stocks fished at sustainable levels has increased from 50% in 2014 to 63% in 2022. We can also say that knowledge and governance was strengthened through better data collection and scientific advice. However, despite this progress, the objective of maintaining and restoring fish stocks above levels capable of producing Maximum Sustainable Yield, so called MSY, has not yet been met across the board. Progress to adopt an ecosystem-based approach has not been fast enough. Based on a scientific and very detailed study, the evaluation also showed that the landing obligation as it was designed in 2013 has unfortunately not led to a relevant change in fishing practices or catch composition. Another important general finding of the evaluation is that the socio-economic performance of the fishing sector does not meet the expectations of the 2013 reform. This is related to the persistent challenges that the fisheries sector in the EU faces: an ageing fleet, combined with high energy dependency and rising operational costs. Other persistent challenges relate to the difficulty of attracting young generations and improving the difficult situation of the small-scale fleet, including its access to resources. Profitability has not improved as expected. This is not only due to the challenges I just mentioned but can also be explained to a large extent by decreasing landings due to slow recovery of fish stocks and by an incomplete adjustment of the fleet capacity to available fish stocks. As regards aquaculture, the evaluation found that the aquaculture sector is generally profitable. However, aquaculture in the EU remains too small in scale and has not delivered the growth needed to increase EU seafood supply. A key explanation is that expansion is being held back by administrative burden and obstacles, in particular complex and lengthy licensing procedures as well as difficult access to space and unfair competition from third countries. The processing sector is more profitable overall than before the reform, as profitability has been supported by consolidation and concentration among operators. However, that profitability comes with a structural vulnerability. Processors are highly dependent on access to raw material, be it from EU catches, EU aquaculture and also imports. Their increasing reliance on imports also exposes them to external supply and price shocks. In terms of food security, the EU's increasing dependency on imports is driven by three main factors. First, the slow and uneven recovery of fish stocks in some areas, which means lower volumes available from EU waters. Second, a mismatch between what we catch and what we consume: domestic supply does not fully meet market preferences. Third, aquaculture growth in the EU has been too slow. As regards the external dimension, greater import dependence can create level playing field concerns, particularly where imported products are produced under different environmental, social, or control standards. The evaluation highlights that the EU has actively worked to address these risks through Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreements and Regional Fisheries Management Organisations, but also through mandatory consumer information requirements under the Common Market Organisation. On governance, the evaluation finds that the CFP has strengthened the scientific basis for decision- making, notably through improved data collection and the wider availability and use of scientific advice. At the same time, it confirms shortcomings in control, enforcement and compliance. In that context, the revised Fisheries Control Regulation is an important milestone towards more effective and harmonised implementation across the EU. The concepts of regionalisation, empowerment and co-management are broadly supported. However, stakeholders raise concerns about the representativeness of some Advisory Councils and about the length and complexity of regionalisation procedures. In terms of cost effectiveness of the CFP regulation, a significant share of implementation costs is linked to effective control and high-quality data. These investments are central to achieving reliable evidence, better compliance, a level playing field, and more sustainable stock management. Targeted EU funding has helped to co-finance parts of those costs, reducing pressure on national budgets. Overall, the evaluation confirms that the approach adopted in 2013 to reconcile the CFP's three core objectives—environmental, economic and social sustainability, remains valid. At the same time, it showed that there is a growing demand to quantify socio-economic impacts and to integrate socio- economic considerations in scientific advice to guide policy decisions. A central conclusion of the evaluation is that achieving conservation objectives and maintaining healthy marine ecosystems, is the basis for long-term socio-economic prosperity of the fisheries and aquaculture sectors. At the same time, energy transition, fleet modernization, support to small scale fishers and generational renewal are issues to be considered. External disruptions such as COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine, systemic changes such as demographic ageing, geopolitical shifts and accelerating climate change, are increasingly affecting fisheries and aquaculture. While these factors go beyond the direct remit of the CFP Regulation, stakeholders expect the policy framework to offer ways to respond and adapt. Brexit has also brought a structural change. The CFP Regulation contains provisions to manage these challenges, but we will need to look into how scientific advice is used. Internationally, the EU remains a frontrunner and strong advocate for sustainable fisheries. On aquaculture, the evaluation points to the limits of the non-binding EU tools such as the Commission Strategic Guidelines for Aquaculture. One essential conclusion from the CFP evaluation across all policy areas is that accurate and reliable data are essential for sound decisions. Honourable Members, This is the first time since the 2013 reform that the CFP Regulation is evaluated with such comprehensive data and trends. This evaluation sets out what has worked, what has not, and why, based on evidence gathered over the evaluation period. This evaluation is a diagnosis. Based on this diagnosis, we will now need to take political decisions as to the follow up, including on whether addressing the challenges and shortcomings identified in the evaluation require any amendment to the legislation, and to which extent. The follow-up we will propose, will also depend on whether you, the European Parliament, Member States and other stakeholders, share our diagnosis. I have already presented the results of our evaluation to the Member States during an informal Fisheries Ministerial meeting some weeks ago, and I will listen very carefully to your feedback today. This will feed into our reflection regarding the future of our policy. On this basis, we will develop the Commission's Vision 2040 for fisheries and aquaculture, which will include the External Action Strategy and the Energy Transition Roadmap, in the early autumn. The findings of our evaluation will also feed and inspire other ongoing discussions and upcoming initiatives, and namely: the Communications on Coastal and Island Communities, which are set for adoption next week. the Ocean Act, which aims to strengthen coherence across ocean-related policies, and which we plan to present by the end of the year; the ongoing negotiations on the next Multiannual Financial Framework, because delivering the objectives of the CFP and the wider ocean agenda depends not only on rules, but also on the use of public funding as an effective enabler to deliver on policy and reforms. Parallel to this work, we are proceeding with our simplification initiatives. Last week, we launched a call for evidence regarding the multiannual fisheries management plans to gather views in order to make them easier to implement, to improve legal clarity and to address challenges identified so far. At the same time, we are finalising internal preparations in view of aligning the EMFAF Regulation to the new WTO agreement on fisheries subsidies and of further simplifying the implementation of our fund. All these initiatives will strongly benefit from the evidence and the overall findings of the evaluation we just concluded. SPEECH/26/1248
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