On Friday 1 June, the European Commission will present its proposal on the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) for the period after 2020 (see EUROPE 12020).
With the Commission likely to propose a 4% reduction in the fisheries policy financing instrument (€6.4 billion for the 2014-2020 period), the Committee of the Regions (CoR) called, in an opinion by Alberto Núñez Feijóo (EPP, Spain) on 16 May, for the 2021-2027 EMFF budget to be increased to 1% of the total EU multi-annual financial framework. On top of the 0.53% of the EU budget currently allocated to fisheries, it wants an additional 0.47% for the integrated maritime policy.
Then CoR also calls for: - continuing support for measures to compensate the fleet for socio-economic damage caused by environmental measures such as area closures, temporary stops and other measures limiting fishing activities; - support for renewal of the fishing fleet (without generating an increase in fishing effort) to avoid damage resulting from ageing (the average age of fishing vessels in the EU is 22.6 years); - greater funding for data collection; - increased efforts to make financial assistance available in order to raise the low overall implementation rate (2.7% in November 2017).
Lastly, the CoR says clearly that the United Kingdom’s decision to leave the EU must not be used as a pretext for cutting future funding to the EMFF. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)