WRITTEN QUESTION E-0650/02

by Daniel Varela Suanzes-Carpegna (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(11 March 2002)

Subject: Europe's current heavily fisheries-dependent regions

In the early days of the so-called Blue Europe, a mechanism for allocating fisheries quotas in Community waters was worked out in terms of heavily fisheries-dependent' European regions; within the CFP, this became known as the relative stability mechanism. At that time, these regions included Greenland, which is now outwith the EU, Ireland, which no longer falls within the GDP criteria for cohesion regions, while regions such as Galicia, amongst others, were not included since they did not form part of the EU (or the EC as it then was). Galicia is currently an Objective 1 cohesion policy region, and its heavily fisheries-dependent status is unquestionable, as its socio-economic indicators clearly show.

Regulation (EC) 3760/92(1) obliges the Commission to draw up a report on the economic and social situation of coastal regions. Parliament rejected the document bearing this title which accompanied the Green Paper, deeming it sloppy, incomplete and lacking homogeneous regional comparative analyses, and called for a fresh report as an absolute priority.

1. Is the Commission going to heed the EP's opinion and draw up a new study clearly defining which European regions are currently heavily fisheries-dependent?

2. If so, when will the EP receive this study? If not, why is it not being carried out?

3. Does the Commission not believe that in order to tackle the reform of the CFP, it is essential to update the extent to which European regions are dependent on fisheries?

4. Does the Commission not believe that in the year 2002, the relative stability fisheries quota allocation mechanism must take account of the current realities of the fisheries-dependency of our regions?

5. In the light of the structural, economic and social statistical data available to it, does the Commission view Galicia as a heavily fisheries-dependent European region?

(1) OJ L 389, 31.12.1992, p. 1.

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(12 April 2002)

Article 14(2) of Council Regulation (EEC) No 3760/92 of 20 December 1992 establishing a Community system for fisheries and aquaculture requires the Commission to present to Parliament and the Council, before 31 December 2002, a report on the fisheries situation in the Community, in particular the economic and social situation of coastal areas, the state of the resources and their expected evolution, and on the implementation of that Regulation.

Such a report was indeed presented in March 2001, in volume II of the Commission's Green Paper on the Future of the Common Fisheries Policy(1), which included a Report on the economic and social situation of coastal regions based on information available to the Commission through its own desk research or ad hoc external studies. The Commission acknowledged the shortcomings of this data, which was often incomplete, and the problems of comparability of data originating from different Member States. It also stressed that improved availability of economic data is a priority for improved economic management of the fisheries sector. However, the report did provide a summary of developments in fisheries-dependent areas, noting that the vast majority of such areas identified in 1990 remained dependent in 1997.

Detailed evaluation of the fisheries-dependence of European regions was the purpose of a series of 22 regional studies, one of them dealing specifically with Northern Spain (Galicia, Cantabria, Asturias, Basque Country) completed in early 2000, on which the above-mentioned report was largely based. The findings of these studies have been published and have been available for consultation on the Internet (http://europa.eu.int/comm/fisheries) since early 2000. They show that some areas of Northern Spain, and of Galicia in particular, are indeed highly dependent upon fishing. However, where the Structural Funds are concerned the usefulness of the concept of fisheries-dependence is limited to Objective 2 areas, whereas Galicia qualifies as an Objective 1 area and is likely to remain so for the next programming period. Fisheries-dependence is thus not relevant for the Structural Fund allocations to this area.

A new research project (QLRT-2000-02277: Construction and application of a computable general equilibrium model for analysing the contribution of fishing to regional development) has recently been launched with the support of the Community research programme in order to refine the relevant methodology even further. In addition, the Commission has launched a methodological study to develop socio-economic indicators for assessing the relative weight of the fisheries sector in the regions or areas most dependent on fishing, so that the impact of alternative management measures on the economic development of these regions or areas can be assessed and compared. The results of both of these must be awaited before contemplating any further work on this topic.

On the principle of relative stability, under which fishing opportunities at Community level are subdivided into quotas allocated to Member States, the Commission stated in section 5.1.4.1. (p 29) of its Green Paper that it does not for the time being see any viable alternative principle which could achieve the same results and that since the consultation process showed that this view is widely shared throughout the Community [] there would be no need for a radical revision of the existing system. Allocation of the national quotas between regions, areas or economic interest groups is a Member State responsibility.

(1) COM(2001) 135 final.