The Omnibus Simplification Package aims to streamline existing EU sustainability regulations, including the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), the EU Taxonomy Regulation and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD). By consolidating these frameworks, the proposal seeks to eliminate redundancies, lower compliance costs, and provide much-needed clarity, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

This is part of the new Commission’s Competitiveness Compass, which aims to reduce the administrative burden on firms by at least 25% and on SMEs by at least 35%. The sector emphasizes that simplification should go beyond reporting obligations. Additional regulatory challenges—such as compliance costs, fishing ground closures, taxation and bureaucratic inefficiencies—continue to threaten the fishing sector’s economic viability. Since 2000, the EU fishing fleet has decreased by 28%, and full-time employment in the sector has dropped by 33%. Europêche urges a practical revision that balances environmental sustainability with food security, economic viability and reduced red tape. The Commission must also conduct a thorough review of all policies affecting fisheries, including the news ones such as the Control Regulation and the Nature Restoration Law, similar to the review of the Common Agricultural Policy adopted in 2023.

Daniel Voces, Managing Director of Europêche, stated: ‘We welcome this initiative as a first step, but the Commission must go deeper. A broader analysis of sectoral and environmental policies is essential to identify and eliminate unnecessary administrative burdens. Reducing red tape, where necessary, will improve competitiveness and ensure a more practical and sustainable regulatory framework for the European fishing industry.’

Europêche welcomes the ongoing screening exercise by DG MARE to identify and reduce red tape. However, the sector calls on the Commission to establish a structured consultation with fisheries stakeholders to pinpoint specific regulatory challenges and propose practical solutions. A comprehensive strategy is essential to ensure that fisheries legislation is proportionate, coherent, and effective, enabling the sector to thrive while supporting the EU’s sustainability objectives.

For more details, read Europêche’s position paper on reducing regulatory burdens in the EU fishing sector.

Press Contact: 

Anne-France Mattlet, Deputy Director of Europêche | Email: anne-france.mattlet@europeche.org | Phone: +33 678 11 63 01 

EP Press Release – Reduction Bureaucracy

As the EU aspires to strengthen food sovereignty, Europêche underscores that fisheries is a critical pillar of Europe’s food production system. EU fisheries contributes to healthy diets, economic stability in coastal communities and reduced dependence on imported proteins. In this context, Europêche calls for the meaningful inclusion of fisheries in the Vision for Agriculture and Food and the announced legislative proposals therein to ensure a truly comprehensive strategy for a stable, resilient and self-sufficient food supply.

Daniel Voces, Managing Director of Europêche, stated: ‘Fishers and farmers face the same challenges—securing food supply in an increasingly competitive and highly regulated environment. While we welcome the Commission’s commitment to fair incomes, reduced bureaucracy and generational renewal for farmers, it is crucial to recognize that fisheries are just as essential to Europe’s food security. Our fishers face similar struggles with rising operational costs, complex regulations and the urgent need to attract young generations into the profession. They deserve the same level of support and recognition as part of the food production chain.’

Europêche calls on the European Commissioner for Agriculture and Food to expand its Vision to fully integrate fisheries. Simplification packages for farmers and food businesses should also extend to fisheries, ensuring a level playing field globally and reducing bureaucratic burdens. This effort must go beyond the Common Fisheries Policy review to encompass all relevant environmental and fisheries policies, such as the Nature Restoration Law and Control Regulation. Additionally, fisheries should be fully included in the Generational Renewal Strategy set for 2025, with dedicated financial incentives, innovation, and training—just as proposed for farmers—to attract and support the next generation of fishers.

Call for an EU Action Plan for Blue Foods

Beyond inclusion in the Commission’s Vision, Europêche is calling for the development of an EU Action Plan for Blue Foods by 2026 to boost the supply and consumption of sustainable seafood. This plan should:

✅ Promote nutritious, healthy, low-carbon blue foods through sustainable fisheries and ocean-friendly innovations.
✅ Be backed by dedicated EU funding to enhance seafood production and market access.
✅ Ensure the integration of blue foods into key EU ocean and food strategies, making it a central pillar of both the EU Oceans’ Pact and the Vision for the Future of Agriculture and Food.
✅ Support public awareness campaigns on the health, environmental, and socio-economic benefits of increasing seafood consumption.

Europêche also calls on Commissioner Hansen to include Europêche as a member of the ‘High-Level Group on Agriculture and Food’, noting that no fishing organization has been accepted to join this expert group. Mr Voces concluded: ‘The future of food in Europe depends on a holistic approach that integrates both land-based and marine food production. Fishers deserve the same recognition and support as farmers in shaping a sustainable and competitive food sector for future generations.’

Press Contact: 

Anne-France Mattlet, Deputy Director of Europêche | Email: anne-france.mattlet@europeche.org  | Phone: +33 678 11 63 01 

EP Press Release – Vision for Agriculture and Food

Europêche, the representative body for the European fishing industry, strongly criticizes the agreement reached yesterday evening by the Council and the European Parliament on the Nature Restoration Law. While Europêche recognizes the importance of protecting and restoring nature, the sector voiced several significant concerns about the Regulation that have been ignored by policy-makers. Some of the primary concerns include the complete absence of a cost-benefit assessment, the artificially broadened scope, which will result in more area closures, and the discriminatory treatment when compared to renewable energy. This law will only feed the already overwhelming bureaucracy and environmental ngo lobbies, but not the people in Europe. Europêche urges the Council and the Parliament to reject the political agreement.

One of the fundamental issues with this law is the absolute lack of a socio-economic impact assessment. As highlighted in the tables attached below, the Commission has failed to provide any concrete data on the “costs and benefits” that this new law is expected to generate for Member States, marine ecosystems and the fisheries sector. Instead, the legislation primarily relies on theoretical gains and potential undocumented benefits, which is not a solid basis for policymaking.

Daniel Voces, managing director of Europêche, stated: “The Regulation should only entry into force when the Commission provides robust and scientific data on the impact the new law will have on food availability and prices, company costs as well as fishing grounds affected. It is a real shame that in the end policymakers decided not to sustain this approach.”

In a publication, the Commission recognizes that under the EU Habitat Directive less than 2% of the European marine areas are in need of restoration. Only to contradict itself in the same document and propose to multiply by a factor of 10 the areas in need for restoration (20% of the seas) without any science-based justification. This threshold goes beyond the international target agreed in Kunming-Montreal (COP15 – CBD), putting once more the fishing fleet at competitive disadvantage. Consequently, according to Europêche, Member States will be spending time and millions of Euros in artificially identifying and restoring areas that are not in need of restoration. The sector will likewise suffer the consequences of uncalled additional area closures.

Another pressing concern is the lack of extra funding to support the implementation of the Regulation. The EU fishing sector is already under significant pressure to decarbonize, minimize its footprint and endure closures of traditional fishing grounds. Expecting fishers to achieve unrealistic targets with limited funding, especially in a challenging economic environment, is absurd and counterproductive. Mr Voces commented: “New legislative ambitions require adequate funding. The proposal does not guarantee the creation of a dedicated fund, without which, targets will be unattainable and the policy will fail. We should remember that fisheries is very particular in the use of funds and therefore this absence could not be covered by deviating funding from other areas.”

Europêche is equally concerned about the exemption for renewable energy industries from complying with some environmental law provisions. Mr Voces commented: “This approach is appalling, especially in light of the unresolved environmental concerns highlighted by the Court of Auditors, regarding offshore renewable energy. It also creates an unfair playing field for the fishing sector since both sectors are competing for the maritime space. Has the scope of the Regulation been broadened to cover up this exception? We call for an equal treatment of all blue economies.”

Once again, the EU is willing to limit its production of food without even considering the consequences, at home and abroad, of such decisions. For Europêche the troubled debate regarding the new environmental law made one thing clear. The EU needs to return to a model where all primary food production is placed under the mandate of a dedicated Commissioner and that needs to happen in the next mandate of the European Commission (2024-2029).

ANNEX

EP Press Release – Nature Restoration Political Agreement