Brussels, 12/09/2005 (Agence Europe) - In a letter sent to the British Presidency and the European Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg on 7 September, the President of the Association of National Organisations of Fishing Enterprises in the EU (Europeche) and the President of the fish section of the General Committee of Agricultural Cooperatives in the EU (Cogeca) welcomed the fact the Commission has become aware of the serious situation created by the unprecedented oil crisis and had convened an emergency meeting with interested parties on 29 July. At the 19-20 September Agriculture and Fisheries Council the Commission will inform Member States about the planned measures. Europeche and Cogeca hope the Commission's pledges will be turned into reality at EU level as soon as possible.
In July this year, the presidents of four European fisheries business associations called for political mobilisation to deal with the impact of the surge in oil prices (see EUROPE 8992). The package of measures unveiled at the end of July by Joe Borg at his meeting with the industry included a measures under the Financial Instrument for Fisheries Guidance (FIFG) for 2000-2006, namely financial aid for temporarily halting fishing for fishermen and fishing boat owners, and financial aid for changing fishing techniques and gear. Considering these measures attractive a priori, the professional fishing organisations expressed doubt about the level of national budget resources still available for such aid at this stage and called for an immediate rise in budget resources and a solution at EU level to avoid discriminating against fishing vessel owners in the EU in an area that affects everyone. Such a solution might take the form of exceptional special aid for temporarily halting fishing activities specifically because of the high oil prices, suggest the authors of the letter. Before the adoption of the new European Fisheries Fund (EFF) for 2007-2013, the Presidents of Europeche and Cogeca urge the EU to foresee aid for replacing ships' engines to ensure they use less fuel without changing the amount of fish caught. They also ask the Commission to consider setting up a fund for preventing problems in the fishing industry, as has been done in France.
In terms of the minimum aid levels, the fishing professionals welcome Borg's willingness to consider raising the EUR 3000 aid per fishing company for three years to put the fishing industry on an equal footing with other areas of the economy by raising the threshold to EUR 100,000 per company for three years, explain the authors of the letter. The current minimum aid rules for farming and fishing make it possible to lift (for three months) the obligation on Member States to give prior notification of aid of less than EUR 3000 per farmer and per fisherman (for three years) (see EUROPE 8802).
Europeche and Cogeca say that the impact of the oil crisis could be settled by sorting out once and for all the market problems caused by importing fish from outside the EU where there are lower oil prices than the EU average and where illegal fishing and social and environmental dumping is carried out.