Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-07-05-Speech-2-162"
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"en.20050705.26.2-162"2
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".
A Fisheries Fund is a fundamental tool for the fisheries sector for the coming years. It is universally recognised that the fisheries sector is a very important sector for the European Union; it is an industry that provides a livelihood to thousands of families. They are, indeed, dependent on this activity, which is so important to most of the Member States of the European Union. The European Fisheries Fund is an innovative project and will achieve the crucial objective of reform of the Common Fisheries Policy, thereby making it possible for the system whereby funds are distributed to be simplified and decentralised, and enabling the European Union to meet the challenges resulting from the accession of ten new Member States. The Common Fisheries Fund respects the fundamental principles of all the other structures, namely subsidiarity, multiannual programming and scrutiny, membership and cofinancing. One positive aspect to it is aid from the proposed European Fisheries Fund will involve locally-integrated action centred on a relevant territorial strategy, with every local situation analysed separately. First of all it provides a financial instrument forming an integral part of the Common Fisheries Policy, with the specific intention of monitoring the management of resources, helping to improve production structures and to create the ideal conditions for their sustainable development.
Secondly, it conforms with the principles of cohesion, which permit different treatment in different regions of the European Union according to their level of development and prosperity. This House’s Fisheries Committee went through a process of detailed consultation. We met all parties involved in this sector, we consulted the fishermen and the representatives of the Member States and we wanted this report to eventually reflect accurately this sector’s needs.
Although the Member States have given a favourable reception to the creation of a European Fisheries Fund with an objective that goes hand in hand with the reform of the Fisheries Policy, there was some concern about the fact that the Fund does not adequately address the renovation of vessels. Representatives proposed that the draft regulation should make provision for fleet renovation and modernisation while at the same time keeping open the possibility of building new vessels without any increase in the fishing effort. The general opinion is that the Commission focused too much on the environmental aspect and took no cognisance of the potential risk of certain measures to the fisheries sector. We could, perhaps, with the help of scientific research, arrive at a more constructive and balanced compromise and thus create a balance between the protection of resources and the sector’s socio-economic viability.
I believe that the report on which we will be voting tomorrow takes good account of the needs of all those who work in this sector. By this we want to send a strong message both to the Commission as well as to the sector and we want the fisheries sector to remain sustainable and viable in the coming years. I believe that it is fundamental for us that there is agreement on the principles which will allocate funds to the fisheries industry. Unfortunately the proposed allocation for the European Fisheries Funds remained practically the same, namely about EUR 5 billion, even though the European Union has had to increase its rate because it is now composed of twenty-five Member States rather than fifteen. It follows that comparison with the past will reveal that every country will receive a smaller percentage of the funds. The protection of the environment is something that causes a lot of concern, and the excessive use of precautions leads to over-protection. It is also worth mentioning that assistance will be available through this Fund. Our hope is that this report will result in greater flexibility, and for that reason we appreciate that the European peoples expect us to remove unnecessary bureaucracy. I believe that all those involved in the drafting of the report had all this in mind and did all they could to eliminate this factor. As I have already said, we have reached an agreement on the renovation of vessels, which is a very important point, we have reached an agreement on the modernisation of fleets and the renovation of coastal vessels and we need a fleet which would be competitive and efficient for the future so that the sector really remains sustainable. As already said, the Committee for European Fisheries already mentioned various opinions on this subject and different aspects of the proposal were considered, including the problems of sustainable development, aquaculture and questions related to the fleet and implementation. As rapporteur, I can say that I am satisfied with the final results. I believe that this report has successfully brought together the most important points and, furthermore, that it carries sufficient political weight to enable the fisheries sector to remain viable and sustainable, both financially and from the environmental point of view.
I will conclude by reminding the House that we had a timetable which was halved in order for us to be able to cover all the items by today, and, had it not been for the help of my group’s coordinator and advisor, as well as a number of other people, especially the representatives of the Commission and my personal staff, I do not think that we would have managed it all. I thank everybody for their help."@en1
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