The European Commission has proposed additional crisis measures to support the EU fishery and aquaculture sectors in the context of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The legislative proposal involves an amendment to the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF), using funds leftover from the 2014-2020 programme.
It will need to be adopted by the European Parliament and the European Council before it can take effect, the Commission said.
If approved, it will complement the first package of crisis measures adopted under the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF) on March 25th.
It comprises financial compensation for additional costs, for income forgone and for the storage of products, as well as for the temporary cessation of fishing activities where they are currently unsafe.
EU Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries Virginijus Sinkevičius said that the fishery and aquaculture sectors are “heavily impacted by the war in Ukraine”.
“There are still financial resources available under the EMFF. With this proposal, we give the possibility to member states to reallocate them to specific measures mitigating the socio-economic impact of the crisis.”
The Commission said that the military aggression of Russia against Ukraine had increased the prices of energy and raw materials, “generating very high additional operating costs and squeezing profit margins in the fishery, aquaculture and seafood processing sectors”.
“The war has also led to a precautionary interruption of fishing activities in certain areas. Once today's proposal has been adopted, Member states will have the possibility to quickly grant financial support for the additional costs and economic losses stemming from the crisis, in particular,” it said.
The proposal also introduces flexibility mechanisms to facilitate the quick implementation of new measures.
This includes a simplified procedure for amending the operational programmes of member states; retroactive eligibility of expenditure as of February 24th, 2022 for these measures; and the possibility of reallocating the fixed amounts initially reserved for certain EMFF measures (i.e. control and enforcement, data collection) to the new crisis-related measures.