The European Commission decided on Friday 25 March to activate new crisis measures to support the fisheries and aquaculture sectors in the context of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The crisis mechanism of the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF) will provide immediate relief to operators in the fisheries, aquaculture and seafood processing sectors by offering financial compensation for economic losses and additional costs that they have incurred.
The decision will enable Member States to grant financial compensation to operators for income foregone as a result of the current market disruption, as well as providing ‘storage aid’ for producer organisations for fisheries products. This step comes in addition to the Temporary Crisis Framework, which enables Member States to provide support through State aid.
Virginijus Sinkevičius, Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, noted that the sectors in question are “hit hard due to high energy, oxygen and raw material prices”. He insists that these emergency crisis measures must “in no way impede our long-term efforts towards structural energy transition of the fisheries and aquaculture sectors to achieve the objectives of the European Green Deal”.
The mechanism that was activated allows Member States to grant two types of crisis measures:
- financial compensation to operators in the fisheries, aquaculture and processing sectors for their income foregone and additional costs stemming from the current market disruption. Additional energy costs can be covered by the compensation if they are linked to the market disruption caused by Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine;
- financial compensation to producer organisations that apply for storage aid for seafood products (provided for in the Common Market Organisation Regulation). This mechanism allows producer organisations to store the products of their members as a way to secure a satisfactory price level on the market.
The crisis mechanism (financial compensation) provided for in the EMFAF is a temporary measure. It will apply retroactively from 24 February 2022, the date upon which Russia’s aggression began against Ukraine, and it will last until the end of 2022. Member States can decide whether or not they wish to use it. If they do so, they will have to include them in the next version of their EMFAF implementation programme, which is submitted to the Commission.
The European Parliament, in adopting the joint resolution on food safety (see EUROPE 12918/13) on 24 March, had called for broader emergency measures: compensation for operators for their income foregone and additional costs, support for the temporary cessation of fishing activities, support for producer organisations and the whole seafood value chain for the temporary storage of products, increase in the year-to-year quota flexibility from 10% to 25%, an increase in the State aid limit to up to €500,000 per vessel (so-called de minimis aid) and inclusion of fisheries and aquaculture in the temporary framework for state aid measures.
Link to the European Commission’s decision: https://aeur.eu/f/yy (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)