Brussels, 03/10/2006 (Agence Europe) - On 4 October, the European Commission is due to adopt a decision on the annual allocation, by Member State, of credit appropriations from the European Fisheries Fund (EFF) for 2007-2013. The regulation on the EFF was formally adopted by the Council on 27 July, following political agreement by European fisheries ministers on 19 June (see EUROPE 9242 and 9214).
The European Fisheries Fund will provide a total of €3.849 billion (2004 prices) in Community credit appropriations over the 2007-2013 period. 0.8% of this amount will go to the Commission to fund technical assistance measures. In addition, €273 million has been earmarked for Romania and Bulgaria, which will join the EU on 1st January 2007. The current 25 Member States (in reality, all except Luxemburg) will, therefore, share a total of €3.545 billion. Of this sum, €2.611 billion will go to the poorest regions (regions eligible for convergence objective funding).
Spain scoops the biggest amount with a total (2007-2013) of €1.005 billion (€840.215 million of which will be for convergence objective regions), far ahead of Poland, with €651.791 million, and Italy (€376.594 million). Then come Portugal (€218.767 million), France (€191.698 million), Greece (€184.795 million), Germany (€138.426 million), the United Kingdom (€122.339 million), Denmark (€118.606 million), Latvia (€110.369 million), Estonia (€74.632 million), Sweden (€48.502 million), Lithuania (€48.418 million), the Netherlands (€43.102 million), Ireland (€37.502 million), Finland (€35.001 million) and Hungary (€30.895 million). Bringing up the rear are the Czech Republic (€24.003 million), Belgium (€23.301 million), Slovenia (€19.330 million), Cyprus (€19.500 million), Slovakia (€12.135 million), Malta (€7.435 million) and Austria (€4.667 million).
The EFF provides aid for: - the fishing fleet (modernisation to improve safety and living conditions on board, rescue and restructuring measures for failing firms, temporary cessation of fishing activity); - aquaculture firms; - common interest measures (collective actions, fishing ports, development of new markets etc.); - development of fishing zones (increasing competitiveness of the zones, conversion to other economic activities, value added to products, environmental protection etc.); - and technical assistance (expert assessments, exchange of experiences).
It is now for Members States to submit their national programmes for approval by the European Commission, for the first aid payments to be made in early 2007. (lc)