Luxemburg, 19/06/2006 (Agence Europe) - In Luxemburg on 19 June, EU Member States' fisheries ministers confirmed their political agreement on the European Fisheries Fund for 2007-2013. Only Belgium and Poland dissented from the text agreed on 13 June in the Permanent Committee of Member States to the EU (Coreper) (see EUROPE 9210). Belgium would have liked less stringent rules on the granting of aid for engine replacement and Poland wanted more funding to support young fishermen.
Following the failure of negotiations in Council last month (see EUROPE 9209), the deadlock was broken relatively quickly, allowing the European Fisheries Fund to come into force at the start of 2007. From that date, the new Fund will replace the regulation on the Financial Instrument for Fisheries Guidance (FIFG) which runs out at the end of the year.
Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg is “very satisfied” with the “balanced” agreement after long months of talks. The compromise, he thought, allowed the objective of “sustainable fisheries”, contained in the December 2002 reform of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) to be observed. Mr Borg said that European aid would allow the sector to meet the challenges of falling fish stocks and the difficult economic situation caused by the high price of fuel. He pointed out too that the criteria for granting aid to replace engines were aimed at not increasing fishing effort.
The European Fisheries Fund has a total budget of €3,849 billion for the period 2007-2013, €2.9 billion of which will go to the poorest EU regions (the new Member States and regions, especially Spanish, which depend heavily on fisheries). Spain will receive the lion's share, with €1 billion, followed by Poland (€650 million).
The European Fisheries Fund will provide for funding for the fleet and aquaculture firms, measures of common interest (collective action, protection of aquatic flora and fauna, fishing ports, development of new markets, alteration to vessels for training or research ends), support for the development of fishing zones (strengthening of the competitiveness of the zones, conversion to other economic activities, value added to products, environmental protection etc.) and technical assistance (expertise, sharing experiences). Among the most important measures are: aid for the replacement of engines on condition that the new engine is 20% less powerful that the one replaced on vessels of over twelve metres; aid of up to €50,000, with 50% co-financing, for fishermen under 40 years of age wishing to buy a second-hand vessel (which should be between 5 and 30 years old and of at least 24 metres); a 4% reserve of the capacity removed from the fleet which could be allocated (without public aid) to fishermen who wished to improve the safety or hygiene of vessels, on-board working conditions or the quality of the product; aid for small and medium-sized aquaculture enterprises and for larger firms with fewer than 750 employees and a turnover lower than €200 million.