00:00We'll be joined by the EU Commissioner for the Oceans and Fisheries from Cyprus, Kostas Cádiz,
00:05a former Minister for Education and Agriculture back home. His country, of course, Cyprus,
00:10is now in the spotlight for the six months, the first six months of the year, because Cyprus
00:15is currently holding the rotating EU presidency of the EU Council. Commissioner Cádiz,
00:20thank you so much for joining us here. Thank you for inviting me and good morning.
00:24So, of course, you're chairing, Cyprus is chairing now the EU Council, not yourself,
00:28because obviously as a commissioner, you don't represent your country, you represent all Europeans.
00:32But, you know, the war in Iran has really dominated the issue. How is it impacting you?
00:39You mean the presidency? Yeah. As far as I know, they have postponed all the activities during March.
00:50But things are returning back to normality from April and onwards.
00:56So, I think that now things will be normal and the presidency will be concluded normally.
01:05And are Cypriots feeling safe now? Because a few weeks ago we saw a lot of drones intercepted.
01:09We saw Manu Macron coming in.
01:11Yeah. Now things are getting better.
01:15No more incidents after that first attack.
01:19And life in Cyprus is back to normality.
01:24And meanwhile, as these wars are raging, there's still serious issues facing the European Union when it comes to climate,
01:30the environment, many policies being neglected.
01:33We're seeing severe overfishing, we're seeing pollution, and we're seeing biodiversity loss.
01:38And this is the area that you're supposed to prioritise.
01:40But how can you in a world with so many wars raging?
01:43Yeah. The challenges are many.
01:48Now we're focusing on providing support to our sector so that it remains competitive.
01:56Because, indeed, the conflict in the Middle East has negatively affected the fisheries and aquaculture sectors,
02:05the seafood market, and the coastal communities.
02:10And we need to discuss a way of supporting the sector to remain competitive.
02:18So what kind of measures are you thinking of? Short-term measures are you thinking of?
02:21This is a topic that we will discuss today at the Agri-Fish Council.
02:26We're exploring solutions in the framework of the European Maritime Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund.
02:32We want to enable member states to provide support to the member states through this fund.
02:39This was done, again, in the energy crisis after the war initiated in Ukraine.
02:45And how nervous are the ministers? What's the kind of feeling that you're getting?
02:49Yes, they're getting nervous because the operators are very, very nervous.
02:56I met with representatives of the sector on Friday.
02:59They informed me that some operators have already stopped their activities because they had a marginal profitability.
03:08And now, with the increase of the fuel prices, they cannot deal with the cost.
03:16Therefore, my message today will be clear to the ministers.
03:21First, we need a united response, a European response that will support the sector.
03:30And second, we need to accelerate our efforts towards energy transition in order to avoid future energy shocks like the
03:41ones we have today.
03:42And that, of course, takes time. Commissioner Cadiz, thank you so much for coming to us today on your stay
03:46here.
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