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EUROPEAN UNION
Friday, July 19, 2002, 04:50 (GMT + 9)
The European Union will allocate an extra Euro 32 million to vessel scraping next year prior to a more substantial re-allocation of funds in 2004 intended to shrink the size of the EU fleet.
In a move that Budget Commissioner Michaele Schreyer said would trigger a "fundamental change in policy" the Commission added the cash to its draft budget for 2003.
According to the Commission the extra funding is an important part of the major review of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) and confirmed the intention of the Commission to provide for "implementing this ambitious reform aimed at a fishing fleet whose capacity is in line with available resources" to safeguard the future of the sector.
Budget Commissioner Schreyer said: "The overall objective of the fishery reform is to develop sustainable fishing activities, by adjusting fishing capacities to sustainable stocks. To this end a supplementary contribution of EUR 32 million in the year 2003 will help to launch this fundamental change of policy which also aims at protecting natural resources for future generations."
This proposal addresses the over-capacity in fisheries by allowing Member States to offer additional money to vessels owners, affected by necessary fishing effort reductions, for scrapping their vessels.
The cost to the Community budget of scrapping some 8,592 vessels has been estimated at EUR 712 million by the Commission. Since Member States have already earmarked "substantial amounts" in their current programmes for the fishing sector, the Commission reckoned an additional EUR 272 million was necessary to carry out decommissioning in 2003-2006.
Most of the extra-financing should come through re-deployment of finances within the Structural Funds programmes for 2000-2006. This will be reviewed next year for the remaining part of 2004-2006. Social and regional consequences of the reform will also be addressed in the mid-term review of Structural Funds programmes.
According to the Commission, as the mid-term review of Structural Funds will not come into effect before 2004, the additional EUR 32 million will be "decisive in initiating the reform of the fisheries policy in 2003, thereby enabling the decommissioning of fleet excess capacity to start without delay".
According to the Commission's plan, the UK, Spain and France have most scrapping to do, with 58,653, 55,604 and 33,892 tonnes respectively to remove. Spain will be expected to spend EUR 274 million on its programme, the UK EUR 239 million and France EUR 179 million to get rid of the excess capacity.
Altogether, the EU will be expected to shed 281,433 tonnes from its demersal fleet, costing the Community and national governments some EUR 1.376 billion.
By Peter Johnson
FIS Europe
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