Prime Minister welcomes understanding to resolve dispute on EU’s economic measures

It was today decided that the Government of the Faroes approves the entering into an arrangement with the European Union on the withdrawal of the coercive economic measures and termination of the proceedings under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the Agreement establishing the World Trade Organization. Welcoming the understanding reached with the EU, Prime Minister Kaj Leo Holm Johannesen, noted: “The EU trade measures are inconsistent with international law. The importance of the availability of recourse to compulsory dispute settlement mechanisms for actually resolving the dispute is for a small country as the Faroe Islands of particular value in order to safeguard its rights under the rule of law, where required. In any event, I am pleased that we are now ready to leave this dispute behind us.”

“The Faroe Islands and the EU are partners in many important areas, and I am confident that we can now use this opportunity to start afresh with a new focus on improving our trade relations and enhancing cooperation in many other areas as well”, added Prime Minister Johannesen.

• Faroese 2014 catch limit set for Atlanto-Scandian herring

The Ministry of Fisheries of the Faroe Islands has today informed the other coastal States to the Atlanto-Scandian herring that the catch limit for Faroese herring fisheries in 2014 will be 40,000 tonnes. This level is a considerable reduction from the limit set in the Faroes in 2013, taking into account the latest advice from ICES (the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea) recommending a major reduction in the total level of herring catches in 2014.

In announcing his decision, Minister of Fisheries, Jacob Vestergaard underlined that the catch limit for 2014 is without prejudice to the forthcoming negotiations between the five coastal states to the Atlanto-Scandian herring on a joint management of the stock, in which the Faroe Islands have a legitimate claim for a considerably larger share.

Recognising the obvious change in the distribution of the herring, all five coastal states agreed last year to a proposal from the Faroe Islands to establish a joint scientific working group to collect and collate information on the distribution and abundance of the Atlanto-Scandian herring from 1995 to 2013. The results from this joint working group are expected to be available in September. They will provide a basis for further negotiations between the parties with the aim of finding agreement on an equitable allocation of the herring stock for 2015 and beyond.

Minister Vestergaard pointed out: “As chair of these negotiations, the Faroe Islands will be doing our utmost to make possible the conclusion of a joint conservation and management arrangement for this stock, the importance of which for the economy of the Faroe Islands cannot be overstated.”

Contact Páll Nolsøe, communication advisor, for more information: +298 551028.