On 26 October Radek Gawlik of the Polish environmental NGO Eko Unia, gathered stakeholders to discuss the Polish Operational Programme (OP) for the fisheries sector, which specifies how Poland will spend its allocated funding from the European Fisheries Fund (EFF) for the period of 2007-2013.
The meeting which was held on the Baltic coast in Wladyslawowo gathered about 40 stakeholders from all over Poland. The main issues discussed at the meeting focused on the structure and financial operation of the newly formed Ministry of Maritime Economy. The Ministry has generated a wide base of critics within the fisheries sector, including fisheries stakeholders such as NGOs. Another issue discussed during the meeting is the fact that Poland has not acknowledged NGOs as possible beneficiaries within the OP, which is strictly against the EFF regulation (Council Regulation 1198/2006). The Polish OP also lacks sufficient environmental protection measures, such as the allocation of funding for Natura 2000 activities.
There are currently many uncertainties around how Poland will decide to distribute it’s EFF funding, and to date, specific EFF allocations have not been presented. What was revealed at the meeting, however, is that the funding mechanisms will be administered by the Agency of Restructuring and Agricultural Modernisation under the Ministry of Agriculture and not through the newly formed Ministry of Maritime Economy. This structure complicates matters for financial operations of the fisheries sector, and it will take time to streamline financial processes between the two ministries. This has for example resulted in loss of compensation to fishermen for the year 2006.
Poland is currently negotiating the OP with the European Commission which presented requests for amendments. These amendments will be carried out in November, and results are expected in the near future.
Many EU Member States are lagging behind in the completion of their OP:s, resulting in a lack of financial flow for beneficiaries. The Finnish OP however, was recently adopted by the Commission.