Brussels, 15/03/2012 (Agence Europe) - The European Union could, temporarily, pay up to 85%, rather than the usual 75%, of the costs for projects focused on sustainable development of fisheries in Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Hungary, Latvia and Romania. On Wednesday 14 March, the European Parliament (EP) voted by 617 votes to 19, with nine abstentions to pass the report by João Ferreira (GUE/NGL, Portugal), approving a draft regulation which will allow the maximum level of joint funding by the Community of the European Fisheries Fund (EFF) to be increased by 10% until the end of 2013 to help states in financial difficulty.
In order to ensure that these member states continue the implementation of the European Fisheries Fund (EFF) programmes on the ground and disburse funds to projects, the Commission proposal contains provisions that would allow increased payments to be made to these countries for the period they are under the support mechanisms (the European Financial Stability Facility - EFSF - for eurozone countries, and the facility providing medium-term balance of payments support for countries outside the zone).
More specifically, it is proposed that a top-up of ten percentage points be applied to the co-financing rates applicable to the priority axis of the programmes for newly certified expenditure submitted during the period in question. In applying the top-up, the co-financing rate of the programme cannot exceed by more than 10 percentage points the maximum ceilings set in Article 53(3) of the EFF Regulation (75% and 50% respectively for eligible and non-eligible regions under the Convergence Objective). This increase will not impose any additional financial burden on the overall budget, since the total financial allocation for the period from the EFF to the countries and the programmes in question will not change.
Ireland (which has been receiving financial aid since December 2010), Greece (since May 2010) and Portugal (since May 2010) will become eligible for an increase in the rate of joint funding from the time they began receiving EFSF aid. For Hungary, Latvia and Romania, the new rules will apply retroactively from 1 January 2010.
In adopting a number of amendments to the initial proposal, the EP insists that the temporary rise in the EU's share of investment costs must be duly justified and should contribute to the promotion of growth, competitiveness and employment. It wants a system put in place to ensure that requests from the countries seeking this helping hand are duly justified. The member states concerned will need to prioritise projects and to show that, under the current maximum co-financing rates, they could not have afforded to pay their share of the projects. (LC/transl.rt)