French politicians have welcomed the amendment to State aid rules on small amounts of aid which will benefit the fishery sector in overseas territories
French politicians have welcomed an amendment the European Commission adopted to the ‘de minimis’ regulation concerning the fisheries and aquaculture sector.
These new rules which will come into force at the end of October, have two major advances requested by France for several years and has been welcomed by the Secretary of State for the Sea, Hervé Berville, French MEP and President of the European Parliament’s Fisheries Committee, Pierre Karleskind, and French MEP Stéphane Bijoux.
A change in the rules regarding aid for the modernisation of fishing vessels for overseas territories
In 2018, France obtained a modification of the state aid regime to intervene to renew overseas vessels. In February 2022, at the request of the President of the Republic, the European Commission authorized five public aid schemes, for a total amount of 63.8 million euros available for Martinique (16.2 million euros), for Mayotte and Guadeloupe (respectively 7.5 and 16.2 million euros) for Reunion and Guyana (6.9 and 17 million euros), subject to demonstrating that local fishing capacity makes it possible to respect the good ecological status of fish stocks. However, the rules used by European authorities have not yet made it possible to take into account the specificities of our overseas territories.
Hervé Berville thus went to Reunion Island in November 2022 and to Guyana in May 2023 to work with professionals on operational solutions. The Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne also went to Reunion Island as well as to Brussels to convey this same message: the urgency of giving fishing sailors safe working conditions, of reviving the attractiveness of the professions, of preserve the resource and guarantee the food sovereignty of our overseas territories heavily dependent on imports and affected by illegal fishing by foreign fleets.
The Commission therefore announced today an opening of public aid for the renewal of the fishing fleet as quickly as possible. In all overseas territories, this decision was expected and Minister Hervé Berville had shared his approach with local elected officials and overseas parliamentarians.
An increase in the possibilities for public aid for the seafood processing and marketing sector, in France and overseas.
All seafood processing and marketing companies saw their possibilities for modernization limited by restricted aid ceilings. The Commission records the increase of this ceiling to €200,000. This will make it possible to initiate the energy transition in this seafood product development sector more quickly.
These first advances, which owe a lot to the mobilisation of the government and European parliamentarians, were necessary but they will not be sufficient.
The aid ceilings remain low to change the motorisation of ships and initiate a real energy transition or to invest in new ships and enable the development of food and economic autonomy in our territories. In Guyana, Mayotte, Guadeloupe and Martinique, as in Reunion, it was crucial.
Welcoming the news of the amendment, Hervé Berville, Secretary of State for the Sea said, “This very concrete recognition of the specificities of fishing and overseas territories was expected. This is essential for supporting the fishing industry. But we must mobilize public and private energies to implement a real development strategy for all components of fishing. This is progress for the overseas territories, but it must go further. We must also remove the obstacles to modernizing the vessels of all European fishing fleets to meet the challenge of energy transition.”
Source: Press Release
