Background - December 11, 2012
EU fisheries ministers will meet on 18-20 December to agree fishing quotas for 2013. On the same day, the European Parliament’s fisheries committee will hold a crucial vote on the reform of the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy.
Representatives of European small-scale fishermen and Greenpeace will stage a joint demonstration outside the Council building in Brussels (175, rue de la Loi) on 18 December, from 8.30AM to around 2PM.
Against a 3D backdrop of a healthy sea, the fishermen (from France, Spain, the UK, Germany, the Netherlands and Greece) and Greenpeace will call for a fair allocation of quotas and a meaningful reform of EU fisheries rules, which tackles the problem of overfishing and the bias of fisheries policies towards a minority of destructive industrial fishing operations.
Photo opportunities will take place at 9AM and 1PM. National fisheries ministers and EU officials are expected to visit the installation around these times. Fishermen, French film star Mélanie Laurent and national Greenpeace experts willbe available for interviews.
For further information on quota negotiations and CFP reform, please contact Saskia Richartz – Greenpeace EU fisheries policy director: +32 (0)495 290028, 
For further information on the logistics of the demonstration, please contact the Greenpeace EU pressdesk: +32 (0)2 2741911, 
www.greenpeace.eu
For breaking news and comment on EU affairs: www.twitter.com/GreenpeaceEU
Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning organisation that acts to change attitudes and behaviour, to protect and conserve the environment and to promote peace. Greenpeace does not accept donations from governments, the EU, businesses or political parties.