The European Commission has told the EAPO it will not provide an extension to the reference period for the use of BAR
The European Commission has told the European Association of fish Producers Organisations (EAPO) it will not provide an extension to the reference period for the use of BAR as the member states concerned have already exceeded the initial minimum for fisheries related support.
The EAPO had written to the Commission at the end of September last calling on it to provide an extension to the reference period for the use of the Brexit Adjustment Reserve Fund (BAR) with President of the EAPO, Esben Sverdrup-Jensen stating that, “The reference period is now coming to an end and even after the redirection of funds from the BAR to the Recovery and Resilience Facility/REPowerEU, substantial underutilisation remains. Unfortunately, policy choices in Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Sweden have limited the possibility of (fully) using national BAR envelopes for the aim of the BAR, which is to support those most affected by Brexit.”
Responding to the EAPO request, Sofia Alves, on behalf of Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevicius, replied:
“We thank you for sharing information on the implications of Brexit on the EU fishing fleet and for suggesting the possibility of extending the reference period of the Brexit Adjustment Reserve (BAR).
Given implementation challenges expressed by several Member States, the French Council Presidency proposed in 2022 to allow for transfers from BAR to REPowerEU in the amended Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) regulation, which was eventually adopted in the regulation by the co-legislators. Against this background, interested Member States were requested to submit by 1 March 2023 a reasoned request to transfer to the RRF all or a part of its provisional allocation under the BAR, to finance the investments and reforms of its REPowerEU chapter, for the exclusive benefit of the Member State concerned.
A vast majority of Member States timely opted for this transfer option corresponding to 38% of the total BAR allocation. More specifically, all Member States with a minimum amount to be spent for local and regional coastal communities that depend on fisheries (BE, DK, DE, IE, FR and NL) have reallocated on average 35% of their provisional allocation to RepowerEU, ranging from 13% to 67% per Member State.
Nevertheless, based on information provided to the Commission services, all six Member States concerned have already exceeded the initial minimum for fisheries related support. Thus, in total, over 950 million EUR from the BAR are due go as support for local and regional coastal communities, with allocation depending on the role played by the fisheries sector in those Member States.
Consequently, the Commission does not anticipate a need for extending the BAR reference period.
We trust that the EAPO’s members will further pursue their efforts in mitigating the impact of Brexit on the fishing fleets most affected.”
