Today, some Members of the European Parliament and Member States are in favour of bringing back subsidies for construction of new vessels and modernisation measures as part of the new EU fund for fisheries and maritime affairs. This would be contradictory to the UN Rio+20 agreement on subsidies and could harm global negotiations in the WTO.
Last week, Scottish MEP Struan Stevenson (ECR) hosted a breakfast meeting in the European Parliament to discuss the international implications of EU decisions on its new European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF). The Fisheries Committee rapporteur, French MEP Alain Cadec (EPP) is currently pushing for funding for renewal of small-scale and coastal fishing vessels โ a move that would bring back subsidies abolished in the previous CFP reform ten years ago.
At the meeting, MEPs and representatives from the Member States and the Commission met with James Brown, First Secretary to New Zealandโs mission to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in Geneva and a leading negotiator on international fisheries subsidies. New Zealand is part of a group of countries in WTO known as the โFriends of Fishโ seeking to significantly reduce fisheries subsidies through the WTO Doha negotiations.
The meeting was attended by around 35 people and focused on the global repercussions of the ongoing EU discussions about the proposed European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF). If the EU decides to bring back subsidies for building new vessels, it would be in breach with earlier EU submissions to the WTO which proposes unconditional prohibition of subsidies for vessel construction and vessel modernisation. According to James Brown, this could have a great impact on the EU negotiation position in the future.