The thirty-eighth annual session of the GFCM, which is being held this week at FAO headquarters in Rome, reached yesterday, 20 May 2014, a historical consensus on a new text of the GFCM Agreement. This new framework should give the Commission modern tools to act more efficiently towards the achievement of its objectives. On this occasion, the EU Commissioner, Ms Maria Damanaki, addressed the session and launched a strong message urging Members to take immediate actions to improve the status of stocks in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. In this respect, she expressed full support to the GFCM reform process, which would provide “the right context to gain prominence and take the role it deserves: a modern, competent, effective body that has the power to make history by reversing a negative trend”.