Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-09-27-Speech-3-303"
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"en.20060927.24.3-303"2
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"Madam President, I would like to express my thanks to the rapporteur, Mr Guerreiro, for his report, and the Fisheries Committee for having taken up this important subject in the form of an own-initiative report. It brings a significant contribution to the ongoing debate on the economic situation of the European Union fishing sector.
Besides EFF support, we have worked hard to establish new rules for
aid, in collaboration with the Commission’s other services, in order to facilitate the handling of small State aid schemes by Member States. This goes in the direction of your request, which point was also made by the Conference of Committee Chairmen. You must appreciate that our proposal already represents a tenfold increase on the former threshold, which was fixed less than two years ago.
We have also noted the request for a specific treatment of the long-distance fleet, expressed both in your report and that of the Committee Chairmen. We are prepared to consider if, and under what conditions, a special register for this segment of the fleet would be justified.
Beyond the rescue and restructuring of fishing firms in difficulty, we must create in the long term an environment that is conducive to their sustainable success. The communication therefore highlights some policy areas that I want to develop in the coming years to create this more favourable environment. I am not going to repeat them here, but I would like to highlight some areas where our views converge.
We fully agree on the need to better involve fishermen in the management of fisheries. That is crucial for the success of the reformed common fisheries policy and I am determined to move in that direction. Due attention will also be paid to the financing of regional advisory councils’ operation.
In line with your recommendations, we have taken serious steps to strengthen the fight against illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU) at international level. Our 2002 action plan is being updated and a new piece of legislation is being considered. That has been given high priority in our agenda. We share the view that small-scale coastal fishing has specificities that deserve to be taken into account. We have done it extensively, both in the rescue and restructuring schemes and in the EFF. We have launched a study to assess objectively whether more can be done. We also agree with you that special attention needs to be paid to marketing, with a view to increasing the added value of fishing products for fishermen.
As mentioned also by the Conference of Committee Chairmen, research should also be pursued in the Seventh Framework Programme to help address some of the most important challenges of the sector.
In conclusion, I would like to thank you once again for your contributions and interest. They demonstrate how much we all strive to ensure a sustainable and healthy future for the fishing sector. I am looking forward to a fruitful discussion with you.
I also noted with satisfaction that the Conference of Committee Chairmen expressed its appreciation of the Commission’s communication on the economic difficulties of the sector. The Conference of Committee Chairmen welcomed the positions expressed by the Commission in its communication, in which it envisages a number of possibilities for aiding the sector in the short term, in the existing context of Community legislation on State aids; in particular, our willingness to examine the national rescue and restructuring aid schemes, submitted by Member States in the two years following publication of the communication. I shall therefore also touch upon some of the recommendations of the Conference of Committee Chairmen, which converge largely with those of the report we are discussing.
We share the same concerns and objectives regarding the fishing sector. We agree with many of the proposals and assessments contained in your report, although we have different views and perspectives on some others regarding, for instance, the short-term support to be given to the sector.
Let me state from the beginning that I strongly disagree with the statement that the Commission appears to take advantage of the current economic crisis to reduce the size of the fishing fleet. By calling a spade a spade, by highlighting the state that the Community fishery is in because of years of over-fishing, we are not taking advantage of anything. I also find unfair the suggestion that we have done too little, too late.
The imbalance between fleet capacity and available resources and the oil price increase are objective causes of the current difficulties faced by the sector. The Commission has done everything possible to help the sector, taking into account the parameters of Community legislation and the need to ensure that the aid actually contributes to fishing sustainability.
No mandatory capacity reductions are foreseen under Community law. Indeed, our challenge has been to balance the necessity to help the segments most affected by high oil prices with the need to address long-term structural problems. We have, therefore, sought to design instruments to rescue and restructure fishing enterprises in difficulty, to help them adapt and become profitable within the context of high oil prices.
It is no use giving aid to fishing enterprises in difficulty if they do not, or cannot, undertake the restructuring that will make them profitable again. For that reason, we have excluded from the rescue schemes all forms of operating aid, which apart from going against Community legislation, will only prolong the problem without solving it.
Action can be taken in the short term by Member States willing to provide support for financial and physical restructuring of fishing enterprises in difficulty, in the framework of national rescue and restructuring schemes. That is precisely meant to allow fishing enterprises in difficulty to obtain loan capital and bail them out, as requested both in your report and in that of the Conference of Committee Chairmen on the work programme of the Commission.
The Community is strongly committed to these rescue and restructuring schemes, since Community funds will be available mainly through the European Fisheries Fund, to cofinance the restructuring of fishing enterprises, as well as to alleviate their social consequences. Socio-economic support can indeed be provided through the EFF, as requested in your report. The new EFF will also provide for more advantageous conditions for scrapping vessels, which was a concern expressed both in your report and that of the Conference of Committee Chairmen."@en1
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