Eurocrats slammed for error which hit fishermen

The Ombudsman, who investigates people's complaints about "maladministration" in the European Union's institutions, said the Commission was damaging the union's public image by refusing to acknowledge its error.

Now eurocrats have been given until the end of June to be more "constructive" in dealing with the issue.

A year ago the Ombudsman, P. Nikiforos Diamandouros, confirmed the fishermen's repeated claims that a simple clerical error had deprived them of their fishing entitlement under the Common Fisheries Policy.

He called for the mistake to be rectified but the Commission refused to accept it had done anything wrong.

The wrangle started with a formal complaint from the Clyde Fishermen's Association, which has 68 vessel-owning members mostly based in south-west Scotland.

The association was puzzled when in January 2007 it was told its annual permitted fishing days were being cut by 10 per cent, from 280 to 252, as part of plans protecting depleted cod stocks in West of Scotland and North Sea fishing grounds.

The Clyde group believed that an EU deal weeks earlier meant that the cut applied only in the North Sea – and Scottish government officials agreed.

The Commission said it was clear the West of Scotland fleet contributed substantially to catches of juvenile cod and therefore must cut back.

Last year's backing for the fishermen from the Ombudsman should have settled the matter, but yesterday's statement from Mr Diamandouros said: "The Commission's defensive approach in this case represents a missed opportunity for the institution and risks damaging the image of the Union's administration in the eyes of citizens.

"I hope that its follow-up, which I have requested by 30 June 2010, will be more encouraging and constructive."

The "mistake" is simple, according to the fishermen and the Ombudsman: someone in the Commission mixed up two columns of figures recording the fishing agreement for 2007, putting the North Sea data in the column for West of Scotland.