Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-05-09-Speech-1-064-000"
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"en.20110509.17.1-064-000"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, the significant rises in fuel prices have seriously exacerbated the crisis faced by the fisheries sector, not least its economic viability, and the already scant incomes of those working in the sector have been significantly reduced. The current sales dynamic does not permit fluctuations in the cost of factors of production, including fuel, to impact on fish prices, and current import policy
contributes to this. Average first-sale prices have stagnated or declined over several years, without this being reflected in reduced prices for end consumers.
The current common organisation of the market (COM) for fisheries products has not contributed sufficiently to improving first-sale prices, nor towards better distribution of added value across the sector’s value chain. The economic situation of a large number of companies has deteriorated in recent years, leading to many of them going out of business, with a real risk that thousands of fishing businesses will go under and that thousands of jobs will be lost because of the rise in fuel prices. The coastal and small-scale fishing sectors are particularly vulnerable, and represent more than 90% of the fleet in some Member States, such as Portugal. Under these circumstances, the Commission’s attitude of inertia and its refusal to take the necessary measures – a stance you have confirmed here today, Commissioner – is absolutely disgraceful.
The Commission can only think of one solution for the problems facing the fisheries sector: indiscriminately cutting the number of ships, which amounts to curing the illness by killing the patient. It is important to say that when such cuts were made in the past, without taking into account fleets’ particularities, the state of fish stocks in each case and each country’s consumption needs, they did not solve any of the problems with which the sector is now faced. It merely caused EU-level concentration of ownership and activity in the sector.
Emergency measures therefore need to be adopted that give an immediate and suitable response to the sector’s socio-economic needs, such as the creation of a guarantee fund, paid for at Union level, that ensures the stability of fuel prices and the use of all financial possibilities and margins of the EU budget to finance extraordinary support measures for the sector. However, taking into account the structural trend of oil price increases and, on the other hand, the demands of environmental sustainability, there is also a need for measures ensuring the medium- and long-term viability of the sector.
Mechanisms are needed to improve first-sale prices, and to promote fair and appropriate distribution of added value across the sector’s value chain. The European Fisheries Fund (EFF) needs to effectively and substantially support the renewal and modernisation of fishing fleets, not least by making the different types of fishing more selective, and by replacing engines for reasons of safety, of environmental protection and of fuel efficiency.
As well as any tax measures that could be adopted at Member State level, EU-level solutions are needed so as not to exacerbate the inequalities that already exist today between Member States and which are increasing because of the serious social and economic crisis, which is hitting the most vulnerable economies particularly hard."@en1
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