Sakharov Prize / Fisheries reform / Belarus election

MEPs considered the nominations for this year's Sakharov Prize, awarded annually by the EP to a person or group who have stood up to oppression. Candidates include a jailed lawyer who represented opposition activists in Iran and the jailed Pussy Riot protestors against Vladimir Putin. The prize is worth winning, says a previous laureate. I don't think the world would have become as aware of the Burmese situation as it did if it had not been for the Sakharov Prize and of course the Nobel Prize. EU fisheries ministers meet as plans to reform the Common Fisheries Policy still fail to find agreement, especially on conserving certain stocks. They've been discussing a proposed €6.5 billion fund to help fishermen and their communities adjust to sustainable fishing, although there are fears it's taking too long. If we stray over into 2014 we have no legal basis for a new reformed Common Fisheries Policy or the European Maritime Fisheries Fund and the whole thing – three, four years of work – would be into the bin. The other unresolved concern is how to reduce catches of juvenile fish, rather than simply banning discards. We must minimise the quantities of discards and then we must incentivise the fishermen to avoid them because if we take all the discards ashore then it solves the problem but it leaves no fish in the water for the future. There's been condemnation of elections in Belarus, boycotted by some opposition parties and with some opponents and journalists in jail. I don't consider it an election. Election means there is a pluralistic democracy with the participation of political parties allowed to campaign freely and with access to the mass media. None of this is happening in Belarus. The election has done nothing to improve the reputation of President Lukashenko.

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