Spain lashes out at Brussels' "another planet" proposal: "We will fight for more fishing days than last year"

BrusselsSpain continues to criticize Brussels for its proposal to reduce the number of fishing days for Catalan fishermen by 65%, leaving them with just nine days in all of 2026. The Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Luis Planas, has harshly criticized the European Commission, stating that it is "a mere appearance." "Proposing nine days is like sending the fishermen home," the Socialist leader said upon entering the EU Agriculture and Fisheries Council, where next year's fishing quotas will be negotiated. However, the Moncloa Palace (the Spanish Prime Minister's office) insists it will not give up, and Planas has promised to do everything possible to even "achieve more fishing days than last year," which, in exchange for the implementation of compensatory environmental measures, ultimately reached 130. In fact, the ministerial meeting will effectively increase the number of days fishermen can go to sea. Last year, for example, member states and the fishing sector already committed to increasing the mesh size of nets and, among other things, installing hydropropelled nets that would not damage the seabed. This year, however, diplomatic sources indicate that, to maintain the same number of days, even more compensatory measures will have to be implemented to convince the European Commission. However, Planas has said that the "creativity" to take more environmental initiatives is "limited" and has criticized the European Commission for "not seeming to take into account the efforts" of Catalan fishermen, whom he believes should be "rewarded" for their work and the positive results achieved in terms of sustainability. "Never before has such a large effort been made in a fishing ground in the history of the Common Fisheries Policy," the Spanish minister told the media.

However, the European Commission and the Spanish government already have several compensatory measures on the table, such as expanding protected areas or prohibiting bottom trawling at depths of less than 600 meters. Currently, according to data from the Catalan government, fishing is prohibited in 3% of Catalan waters. However, it is likely that Brussels and the Spanish government will eventually agree to increase this percentage to, for example, 10%.

To obtain more fishing days, diplomatic sources indicate that Spain is seeking to form a united front with France and Italy, which are also affected by the European Commission's cuts. In fact, Minister Plans met with his French and Italian counterparts this Thursday with this intention. This is a common alliance in these types of negotiations, and, for example, they already negotiated jointly with the European Commission last year.

The European Commission also maintains that the measures fishermen have had to take are yielding positive results and that they are gradually approaching sustainability for all commercial species caught by trawling, although greater efforts are needed to achieve full sustainability in the Mediterranean. However, the Spanish and Catalan governments, as well as the fishing industry, are critical of the scientific reports from Brussels and their reliance on a limited number of species—such as the Norway lobster, whose population is declining and particularly affected by climate change—to establish the entire fishing quota in the waters. They also request more time to take into account the fishermen's sustainability efforts. Nevertheless, EU sources anticipate that the negotiations between the member states—in this case, Spain, France, and Italy, which typically join forces to secure more fishing days—and the European Commission will be marathon-like. The EU Fisheries and Agriculture Council began its meeting Thursday morning, and diplomatic sources already assume that an agreement will not be reached until early Friday morning or Saturday morning.