EP Fisheries Committee votes in favour of reintroducing controversial subsidies
02 September 2013
The EU’s Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) reform was finalised at the end of May with the adoption of the basic regulation, which includes a ban on discards and tighter fishing quotas, in line with maximum sustainable yield.
To implement this new policy, a new financial instrument – the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) – has to be put in place, and new rules for spending aid must be agreed by the European Parliament and the Council of Fisheries Ministers.
In July, the European Parliament’s Fisheries Committee voted on the EC proposal for EMFF, and supported some controversial subsidies. In particular, the Fisheries Committee voted to permit EU financing for engine replacement and the building of new fishing vessels – the latter having been banned since 2005. Such funding would be permitted only for vessels under 12m long, but many consider that this limit might be increased during negotiations with member states. The European Parliament plenary will vote on the EMFF in October before negotiations start with the fisheries ministers.
Fisheries ministers finalised their negotiating position on the EMFF at a meeting on the 15 July 2013. They had already agreed in October 2012 the kinds of measures they want to fund, which included controversial subsidies for vessel modernisation. However, the criteria for distribution of funds, including the distribution among member states, were still to be agreed. According to the outcome, Spain could receive about 20% of the EMFF. Ministers did not decide in favour of reintroducing subsidies for vessel construction, although France, Italy, Spain and Belgium could push for this during negotiations with MEPs on a final version of the legal text. Ministers also want more money – a 50% increase – to be spent on the outermost regions.
Environmental campaigners want the text that was approved by the Parliament’s Fisheries Committee to be overturned by the plenary. For its part, the fishing industry says that funding for new boats is a distraction. The sector does not want more boats to fish more; they need better equipment on board. The representative of Europêche, the platform that represents EU boat owners, says the EMFF should be used to improve health and safety conditions on board and reduce the vessels’ energy consumption.
Editorial comment
The outcome of the negotiations on the EMFF will undoubtedly influence the EU position in international forums, such as the WTO, on subsidies for building up new (small-scale) vessels or modernising them. Any increased flexibility might change the EU’s position on special and differentiated treatment for small-scale fisheries, a topic of great importance for many developing states, including ACP countries. Another element that needs to be carefully monitored by ACP countries in this debate is the political will of some member states, and some member states’ MEPs – France and Spain in particular – to push for both building subsidies and increasing funds to the outermost regions, some of which are ACP countries’ neighbours (La Reunion, Mayotte, Guadeloupe, Canary Islands, etc). If subsidies for new vessels were to be reinstated, and such funding channelled to the EU outermost regions, it could result in an increase in fishing capacity. In some cases, where EU outermost regions’ fleets operate outside their exclusive economic zones (EEZ), this might increase competition with existing fleets operating in ACP waters.
