Member States’ ambassadors to the EU approved on Tuesday 14 April the EU Council’s position strengthening certain provisions of the proposal providing for aid to the fisheries and aquaculture sectors due to the negative effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
The proposal, presented on 2 April, amends the Regulation on the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) and the Regulation on the Common Market Organisation (CMO).
“We have to ensure that the current crisis does not cause irreparable damage to communities where fishery and aquaculture are the main economic activities. The proposal endorsed today will provide financial support to EU fishermen and aquaculture farmers to help them overcome the economic challenges caused by the COVID-19 outbreak”, commented Marija Vučković, Minister for Agriculture of Croatia.
The proposal introduces the following measures: - support for the temporary cessation of fishing activities with a maximum co-financing rate of 75% of eligible public expenditure; - support for the temporary suspension or reduction of aquaculture production and sales; - support for producer organisations and associations of producer organisations for the storage of fishery and aquaculture products; - increasing the quantities eligible for storage aid to 25% of the annual quantities of the products concerned.
The EU Council’s position adds the following amendments to the proposal: - inclusion of fishermen on foot (mostly women) as eligible for support in case of temporary cessation; - a derogation allowing aid for the temporary cessation for new vessels; - flexibility in order to use 10% of the budgetary funds allocated to Union Priority 3 (implementation of the Common Fisheries Policy); - granting working capital and compensating the reduction of sales and additional storage costs for aquaculture farmers.
The proposal also provides that expenditure relating to operations supported under these measures will be eligible from 1 February 2020.
New cooperation with the European Parliament. The Chairman of the Parliament Committee on Fisheries, Pierre Karleskind (Renew Europe, France), welcomed “an unprecedented cooperation between the Presidency of the EU Council and the Parliament Committee on Fisheries” on the changes to be made to the initial proposal. Parliament will adopt the text on 17 April in plenary (see EUROPE 12463/10).
Among the improvements made, Mr Karleskind notes: - support will also be available for fishermen who have just started their activity and for fishermen on foot; - the provisions for the outermost regions will be adapted to the consequences of the crisis; - budgetary flexibility will be possible so as not to penalise countries that have exhausted all the funding allocated. “The EU is effective when it has the means to be and we have demonstrated that”, he says. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)