The European fisheries organisation Europêche is hoping for the rapid adoption of the proposals on emergency measures for the fisheries and aquaculture sectors in the context of the coronavirus crisis, in a press release published on Thursday 2 April (see EUROPE 12460/10).
"The sector is disappointed that no additional funding is foreseen and calls for this issue to be addressed urgently, as otherwise the proposed measures will not be effective in tackling this unprecedented crisis", writes Europêche.
"We are facing a paradox", says Javier Garat, President of Europêche: "EU and national governments are encouraging our operators to continue fishing but, for the moment, they are not tabling any measure to compensate the loss of income faced by our companies due to the huge reduction of up to 50% of fish prices threatening their financial viability". He claims it is essential that fishermen receive income compensation.
The Chair of the European Parliament Fisheries Committee, Pierre Karleskind (Renew Europe, France), said that all the political groups in the Fisheries Committee "had united around demands, and I am pleased to see that we have been heard". The Fisheries Committee will examine the proposal "as soon as possible". In order to discuss these new proposals in detail, he has invited Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius to address the Fisheries Committee which will meet on Tuesday 7 April.
However, the GUE/NGL Group in the Parliament considers the Commission's proposal to be "insufficient". "Other urgent actions are needed to protect incomes and ensure food security, to safeguard the sector and to defend artisanal fisheries", according to this group.
Read the GUE/NGL Group's proposals: https://bit.ly/34icMkp (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)