2012-10-26

EU: End Of Japanese Whaling Central Requirement For Free Trade Agreement

Strasbourg, 10-25-2012:

On day four of its plenary week the European Parliament has adopted a resolution concerning a potential free trade agreement between the EU and Japan. As one of the main requirements for such an agreement the resolutions asks Japan to end their so-called “scientific” whaling programme.

The resolution is a clear mandate for the Commission for future negotiations on the subject. A free trade agreement with Japan not only holds the possibility of an economic upswing for the EU, it also has great potential for the creation of new jobs.

WDC commends the clear political determination and unambiguous stance of the European Parliamentarians as a strong signal to the International Community and an example for an effective anti-whaling policy of the EU.

The European Parliament has said,

'... the Commission, the Council and Parliament support the maintenance of the global moratorium on commercial whaling and a ban on international commercial trade in whale products, seek to end so-called scientific whaling and support the designation of substantial regions of ocean and seas as sanctuaries in which all whaling is indefinitely prohibited', and,

'Notes that serious divergences remain between the EU and Japan on issues related to the management of fisheries and whaling, notably Japan’s whaling under the guise of scientific whaling, and calls for broader discussions on the matter of the abolition of whale hunting and of trade in whale products'.

This is fully in accordance with EU law that prohibits any commercial whaling or trade in whale products and WDC commends the EU's parliamentarians for ensuring that this issue is front-and-centre in discussions with Japan.

A WDC spokesperson said 'We have long argued that EU law means that EU member states cannot vote for any form of commercial whaling and we are pleased to see EU Parliamentarians upholding this position'.