Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-07-05-Speech-2-166"
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"en.20050705.26.2-166"2
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".
Mr President, I wish to begin by congratulating the rapporteur, Mr Casa, on his excellent work and thank the Committee on Fisheries and its chairman for their valuable contribution to the debate on the European Fisheries Fund. I strongly appreciated the significant amount of work undertaken in order to achieve a timely delivery of Parliament’s opinion, as well as the active involvement of Member States and the fishing sector in this debate.
We are, therefore, willing to include funding for the replacement of engines for small-scale vessels, while ensuring that capacity is not increased and stocks are exploited in a sustainable manner. This could take place in particular in the framework of coastal management plans aimed at the sustainable development of fisheries for the benefit of local communities.
I am confident today’s debate will contribute to improving further the content of the European Fisheries Fund proposal. We shall continue our work with the Council to finalise its adoption in due time and I am committed to informing the Council of your outstanding concerns after today’s debate.
I, myself, together with the Commission services, have travelled to various Member States to gather the opinions of administrations and the sector alike. Despite the large number of proposed amendments, I believe that in substance your proposals are close to ours and I am pleased to note your generous support for our proposal. This indicates that we have a common understanding that the new fund should serve the purpose of implementing the CFP and aim at achieving sustainable development of the fisheries and aquaculture sectors in the Community.
I do not share the view of the rapporteur that the fund focuses too much on the environmental dimension. It focuses on the attainment of sustainable fisheries in the long term in the interests of fishermen themselves – sustainability in all senses of the word: economic, social and environmental.
I now wish to say a few words on where we currently stand with the proposal. As you know, the Council met on 20 and 21 June to discuss the proposal after significant work had been undertaken at the technical level. Under the Presidency’s stewardship we were able to progress towards a broad consensus with Member States, while taking into account the work that was ongoing in the Committee on Fisheries.
To mention only three areas where we have met your concerns, I refer to the extension of aid to medium-sized enterprises operating in the aquaculture processing and marketing sectors, to the inclusion of new provisions in support of small-scale fisheries and young fishermen, and to increased flexibility in the selection criteria for fisheries regions where local development strategies can be implemented.
We did not, however, conclude the discussions in the Council on 21 June. Member States still have divergent opinions on aid for new constructions and modernisation of the fleet, with some of them requesting the reinstatement of aid for the construction of vessels.
I have expressed my position in the Council, which I wish to reiterate here. I am not prepared to reopen the debate on aid for the construction of vessels, which was phased out during the common fisheries policy reform. To do so in the context of over-capacity and over-fishing would undermine our determination to achieve sustainable fisheries and our commitment at international level not to subsidise the increase in fleet capacity. We need not only a commitment that our own capacity is not increased, but we need to decrease capacity to attain sustainable fisheries.
Concerning support to vessel modernisation, the Commission is ready to accept some changes advocated by the Committee on Fisheries. Firstly, by clarifying that aid will be available to modernise vessels below deck for safety, working conditions, hygiene and product quality purposes, provided capacity is not increased. Secondly, by making safety-related items explicitly eligible under the European Fisheries Fund.
In many ways, the discussions in the Council mirror the arguments expressed by the European Parliament with regard to the restructuring of small-scale coastal fisheries. I am convinced that specific attention to small-scale fisheries is justified because of their important role in the economic and social fabric of fishing communities, their territorial dimension and the competition they often face from other segments of the fleet."@en1
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