Brussels, 15/06/2016 (Agence Europe) - At a meeting of the European Parliament fisheries committee on Wednesday 15 June, the European Commission called on EU member states to make a step change in implementing their operational programmes for European maritime and fisheries fund (EMFF) money for 2014-2020.
The 27 EMFF operational programmes (only Luxembourg does not have one) were all approved by the Commission in 2015. The member states are being very slow in implementing them, however. João Aguiar Machado, Director General at the Commission's DG MARE (Maritime Affairs and Fisheries) said that countries should designate competent (management and auditing) authorities so that the Commission could begin releasing the funding. “The member states are working on this with differing degrees of urgency but this is a crucial stage before funds can disbursed”, he said. He stated that, at present, only three member states had put the necessary authorities in place.
Aguiar Machado also expressed his concerns that not all countries had adopted their action plan to ensure that spending is in line with EMFF rules. If member states fail to adopt their action plans before the end of 2017, they could see payments suspended. “This is one of the major concerns we have at the moment”, Aguiar Machado indicated.
€600 million unspent. He revealed that, for the moment, €600 million from the European fisheries fund (EFF) has still to be spent for the period from 2007 to 2013. A total of €4.3 billion was available under the EFF. “I hope that the final amount of unspent money will be less (than €600 million) after closure of the programmes”, he said, in response to João Ferreira (GUE/NGL, Portugal).
The money available for fisheries activities under the EMFF is broadly in line with what was available under the EFF but funding for measures on the fleet (replacing gear, cessation of fishing, decommissioning of vessels, etc,) has fallen by 25%. This prompted the director general to say that some segments of the fleet had managed to find a balance with fish resources, but not in the Mediterranean, where more than 90% of stocks are overfished.
Aguiar Machado noted that funding for aquaculture (which rose from 14.3% to 21%) and for controls (up 55%) had risen significantly under the EMFF (compared with the EFF).
New proposal in 2018. Alain Cadec (EPP, France), who chairs the Parliament's fisheries committee, asked the Commission to present its proposal on the post-2020 EMFF early enough for it to be operational from 1 January 2021. The EMFF 2014-2020 was put into effect two years late. Aguiar Machado said that the Commission was planning to bring forward its proposal on the next EMFF in 2018 and that an impact assessment and a public consultation would be conducted next year. Stock will also be taken next year of implementation of EMFF 2014-2020 funding. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)