#BeersPoliticsEU: "What future holds for the Common Fisheries Policy?"

#BeersPoliticsEU: "Sustainable Competitiveness or Competitive Sustainability? What future holds for the Common Fisheries Policy?"

Despite progress in parts of the North-East Atlantic, roughly 40% of assessed fish stocks in European seas remain overfished or outside safe biological limits, with the Mediterranean Sea facing severe overexploitation rates exceeding 70% to 80% due to slow policy implementation, climate pressures, and persistent high catch quotas.

First launched in 1970 and fully established in 1983, the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) underwent an evaluation last year. The results were mixed: overfishing has decreased and some fish stocks are recovering, but progress toward total sustainability is slow, implementation varies by country, and economic pressures like high fuel costs remain tough for the fishing communities.

Today there are calls for reform from some stakeholders. Some say that structural reform is needed for fairness, ambition, and effectiveness. Others think the framework works but the problem lies in implementation and enforcement. What is clear, is that the status quo is not sustainable for both fishing communities and fish.

This session of #BeersPoliticsEU looks at the future of Common Fisheries Policy.

With us on the panel are:

• Cécile Fouquet, Brussels representative, European Mollusc Producers' Association (EMPA)
• Iván López Van der Veen, President, EBFA (European Bottom Fishing Alliance)
• Brooke Moore, Policy Analyst, EPC
• Brian O'Riordan, Policy Advisor, Low Impact Fishers of Europe (LIFE)
• Pedro Reis Santos, Secretary General, Market Advisory Council
• Steve Trent, CEO, Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF)
• Dovile Vaigauskaite, Head of Unit D3, DG MARE, European Commission

*The session will be followed by a networking drinks to welcome everyone back from the summer.

Moderator: Harold Tor-Daenens, Senior EU Affairs Expert, Hyperion Tree Digital

• Location: Ambiorix Center, Square Ambiorix 7, 1040 Brussels
• Date: Thursday, 1 October 2026
• Doors open: 17:30
• Time: 18:00-19:00, followed by Q&A plus informal chitchat
• Entrance fee: Free, upon registration on Meetup (if you're new to Meetup, DO NOT sign up for a PAID subscription, please click SKIP to sign up for a FREE Meetup account).

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About #BeersPoliticsEU
Harold Tor-Daenens is the organiser of #BeersPoliticsEU - a renowned voluntary meetup of EU professionals and ordinary citizens to talk about EU policies and politics. It is the ONLY informal EU-policy-discussion event in Brussels that allows both EU experts in the EU Bubble and citizens to meet and exchange without any institutional sectoral or political baggage.
The format of #BeersPoliticsEU is simple: a speaker or a panel of speakers speak for an hour at most. No powerpoint is allowed. Anyone in the room can interrupt with a question at any point of time. If necessary, the session can be extended by at most 30 minutes of QnA.
Please tag us using #BeersPoliticsEU on all social media platforms.