The European Commission faces fresh frictions with some member states at a meeting on Tuesday with EU fisheries ministers over the early closure of the tuna fishing season and soaring fuel prices. France, which takes over the European Union's rotating presidency in July, has called for Brussels' decision to shut down tuna fishing early to be reconsidered at the meeting in Luxembourg.
Chronically overfished, Mediterranean tuna are the victim of their success with fish lovers, who prize their flesh in sushi. About 70 percent of the Mediterranean catch goes to Japan and prices keep going higher.
On June 13, the commission called an early halt to industrial fishing of blue fin tuna in the Mediterranean and eastern Atlantic at the peak of the season over fears quotas were being filled too quickly. The move triggered a wave of fierce criticism from Europe's leading tuna fishing nations France, Italy and Spain, which accused the commission of using faulty figures and demanded the decision be dropped.
"The commission's figures are based on estimates or projections more than on facts," French Fisheries Minister Michel Barnier told French weekly Le Journal de Dimanche in an interview published on Sunday. "My figures, based on fishermen's declarations, tell me that at the moment of the ban only 52 percent of France's quotas were full. I want to know where's the problem," he said, demanding that the commission "explain its decision in an intelligible way."
Dismissing their accusations, the commission said last week that its critics were failing to keep track of catches, running the risk of overfishing. "The commission therefore cannot seriously be expected to consider their very poorly based request to suspend its well-founded decision," said EU Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg.
In theory, the ministers could overturn the commission's decision if a qualified majority is reached, which is unlikely to happen. The commission's decision to close the tuna season early inflamed tensions with the fishing industry all the more because fishermen have been leading waves of protests against high fuel prices.
About 20 Italian tuna fishing boats gathered in Naples port on Saturday to protest the ban. While refusing to lift the ban on tuna fishing, the commission has come up with a package of proposals aimed at bringing relief to fishermen from soaring fuel prices.