EU countries and the EU Commission wanted to remove an automatic stop for fishing of endangered fish. But it is not approved by the EU Parliament, where the fisheries committee is now sending the entire proposal back.
But it was with the smallest possible margin.
Monday evening's vote in Brussels ended 13-13 - which was just enough for the many Swedish members who disliked the proposal to breathe a sigh of relief.
The proposal was submitted last winter since a majority of EU fisheries ministers wanted to allow larger quotas than science. To make it legal, the Commission proposed removing a hindering paragraph from the quota-setting rules.
But now the Commission is getting a rebuff.
Extremely important. Now we have voted no twice to change the rules of the game for fishing in this way. We need more mechanisms to protect the Baltic Sea - then we cannot do the opposite, comments Swedish member Emma Wiesner (C).
