THE EUROPEAN Commission agreed an emergency aid package for fishermen yesterday to help offset the recent dramatic rise in oil prices.
The package would allow governments to give more restructuring aid to fishermen who agree to leave the industry, and to provide emergency aid to those fishermen who temporarily stop fishing. It would also temporarily relax state aid rules to enable member states to provide €30,000 in aid over three years to each fishing vessel rather than each fishing enterprise, which is the current rule. This is intended to help fishermen who own more than one boat, although there will be a maximum cap for aid of €100,000.
National governments may also be allowed to grant emergency financial aid, but only if it is linked to reducing fleet capacity. There is also the possibility of increasing pre-financing measures for fishermen and up to €25 million in EU funds for marketing and labelling campaigns in the package, which must still be approved next week by member states at a Council of Ministers meeting.
In a statement, fisheries commissioner Joe Borg said the commission understood the need to co-ordinate action at EU level to avert a severe crisis for the industry. He said the emergency package reflected the fact that there would need to be further restructuring of the fishing industry.
“This means not only providing the possibility of emergency relief, but committing to finally addressing the underlying issue of overcapacity, which is undermining all our attempts to get the industry back on a sustainable and profitable footing,” said Mr Borg.
The draft measures were agreed yesterday by the commission, which has been strongly criticised for its perceived slow response to the rise in fuel prices. The commission has countered the criticism by stating that there is a significant overcapacity in the EU fishing fleet and simply not enough fish left in the sea.
Ministers from several EU countries, including Ireland, have intensively lobbied the commission to enable them to provide more state aid to the fisheries sector. Later today in Strasbourg, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Brendan Smith and Minister of State for Fisheries Tony Killeen will meet Mr Borg to press for EU measures to help fishermen.
Irish fishermen recently blocked Cork port and had threatened to step up their disputes unless the Government won some concessions from Brussels. It remains to be seen whether the current package will meet their demands.