4European Maritime and Fisheries Fund
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Committee’s assessment |
Politically important |
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Not cleared from scrutiny; further information requested; drawn to the attention of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee and the Environmental Audit Committee |
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Document details |
Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund |
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Legal base |
Articles 42, 43(2), 91(1), 100(2), 173(3), 175, 188, 192(1), 194(2), 195(2) and 349 TFEU; Ordinary legislative procedure; QMV |
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Department |
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs |
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Document Number |
(39938), 9627/18 + ADDs 1–2, COM(18) 390 |
Summary and Committee’s conclusions
4.1The EU’s European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) targets EU funding to support implementation of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), the EU’s maritime policy and the EU’s international ocean governance commitments. The UK does not expect to participate in the EMFF after the post-Brexit implementation period ending on 31 December 2020. In the event of no Brexit deal, the Government has guaranteed EMFF funding until the end of 2020.12
4.2The Commission has proposed legislation establishing the EMFF for the 2021–27 Multi-annual Financial Framework (MFF). As requested by Member States, the Fund has been simplified. Under this approach, it will be for Member States to draw up their programme, identifying the most appropriate means for achieving the priorities of the EMFF. The four priorities are:
- fostering sustainable fisheries and the conservation of marine biological resources;
- contributing to food security in the EU through competitive and sustainable aquaculture and markets;
- enabling the growth of a sustainable blue economy and fostering prosperous coastal communities; and
- strengthening international ocean governance and enabling safe, secure, clean and sustainably managed seas and oceans.
4.3Any investments that would enhance fishing capacity are prohibited, while other investments in the fleet will be strictly conditional on their consistency with the conservation objectives of the EU.
4.4The budget for the EMFF has been reduced compared to the current budget by an amount equivalent to that received by the UK. This leaves a total budget of €6.1 billion (£5.48 billion) over the seven-year period.
4.5In his Explanatory Memorandum (EM), the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (George Eustice) says that there are no expected domestic policy implications for the UK stemming from the EU’s new EMFF proposal. UK withdrawal from the EU means, he says, that the UK will want to take its own decisions about how to deliver the policy objectives previously supported by EU funding.
4.6The Minister goes on to explain that work to consider the longer-term future of all funding programmes that are currently managed by the EU is underway. The Government continues to gain valuable feedback from industry, which will help shape the design of any possible future funding scheme. Further information on the EMFF in the UK and the Government’s future plans are set out below.
4.7The non-applicability of the Fund to the UK is not as clear as presented by the Government. As set out later in this chapter, the Fund may support some activities carried out outside the EU. Furthermore, non-EU legal entities may be entitled to support in certain instances.
4.8We note that the Minister is categorical in his statement that the proposal will not apply to the UK. While we understand his statement, we would have expected some acknowledgement that the proposal makes provision for the Fund to support certain activities carried out outside the EU and makes provision for non-EU legal entities to participate in certain instances. It therefore seems possible to us that the UK or UK legal entities may be affected or involved. We would welcome comment from the Minister on these provisions and how they could potentially affect the UK.
4.9Control and enforcement, data collection and processing, maritime surveillance and coastguard cooperation are all areas where support for activities carried out outside the territory of the EU are permitted. We ask whether these are areas where the UK could envisage cooperation with the EU in the future, either in UK and EU waters or elsewhere.
4.10Funding is available under the EMFF to support maritime spatial planning, sea basin strategies and maritime regional cooperation. We note that the Commission’s definition of a “sea basin strategy” extends to third countries around any particular sea basin. We recall too that the EU’s Maritime Spatial Planning Directive requires Member States to cooperate, where possible, with third countries on their actions with regard to maritime spatial planning in the relevant marine regions. We ask the Minister first of all to identify the sea basins and marine regions which the UK shares with the EU and, second, to indicate whether the UK might consider joint projects in the future to manage those sea basins and marine regions. We ask, too, what plans the Government has to apply the Maritime Spatial Planning Directive, including the cooperation requirements, after the proposed post-Brexit implementation period ending on 31 December 2020.
4.11Turning to the design of future UK arrangements, we note the Minister’s statement that the Government continues “to gain valuable feedback from industry, which will help shape the design of any possible future funding scheme”. We note too that, upon publication of the fisheries white paper in July, the Government issued a joint press release with two fishing industry organisations.13 The white paper launched a ten-week consultation exercise, seeking responses to a series of questions including “What would be your priorities for any future funding for the sector or coastal communities?” This contrasts with the broad remit of the EMFF, extending to maritime policy as well as to aquaculture and fisheries. We ask for responses to the following queries:
- whether feedback has been limited to the fishing industry or has feedback been received from other industries and groups and, if so, which such stakeholders;
- how, beyond publication of the white paper consultation, the Government has sought to engage pro-actively beyond the fishing industry on future funding arrangements; and
- if the Government can confirm that it is considering not only how future UK support could assist the fishing and aquaculture industries and the communities that they sustain but how it could support the wider maritime economy.
4.12We would welcome a response to our queries, along with an update on the progress of negotiations, within three weeks. The proposal remains under scrutiny and is drawn to the attention of both the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee and the Environmental Audit Committee, which is undertaking an inquiry into Sustainable Seas.
Full details of the documents
Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund: (39938), 9627/18 + ADDs 1–2, COM(18) 390.
Content: Potential application of the EMFF beyond the EU
4.13Various articles of the proposal make provision for application of the EMFF beyond the EU or allowing for legal entities from third countries to participate.
4.14Support for the following activities may be granted to operations carried out outside the EU’s territory:
- control and enforcement (Article 19(4));
- collection and processing of data for fisheries management and scientific purposes (Article 20(2));
- maritime surveillance and coastguard cooperation, as part of strengthening international ocean governance and sustainability (Articles 28(2) and 29(3)); and
- projects under the direct and indirect management of the European Commission (Article 39).
4.15Article 51 defines legal entities established in a third country as eligible entities for projects under the direct and indirect management of the European Commission where their participation is necessary to achieve the objections of a given action and on the basis that they will bear the cost of their participation.
4.16The above provisions in Article 39 and Article 51 are particularly relevant as the direct and indirect support extends to the implementation of maritime policy through sea basin strategies, which are defined as including third countries where appropriate. The EU’s Maritime Spatial Planning Directive14—which is referenced in the proposal—includes a requirement on EU Member States to cooperate, where possible, with third countries on their actions with regard to maritime spatial planning in the relevant marine regions.
Background: fisheries funding in the UK
4.17The EMFF allocation available to the UK between 2014 and 2020 is €243.1m and is split into three main activities:
- Grants for projects (€145.6m);
- Data Collection Framework (DCF) for fisheries monitoring and assessment (€52.2m); and
- Control and Enforcement (€45.2m).
4.18The priorities of the current programme include promoting the transition of the UK’s fleet to practices to encourage sustainable and discard-free fisheries and to develop IT tools and technologies used for control and enforcement and to improve the traceability of fisheries products.15
4.19In its paper on the future of fisheries policy,16 the Government said:
“We will consider whether and how to replace the EMFF, which has supported the sector across the UK.
“In the design of any future scheme we could consider the sustainability and productivity of different parts of the sector and of coastal communities. Any funding would need to be consistent with the thrust of our new approach to fisheries management.
“Any new scheme would be compatible with state aid rules, consistent with the functioning of the UK internal market and compatible with the WTO ambition to end fisheries subsidies that contribute to overcapacity, overfishing and illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing.
“To provide flexibility to introduce a new grants scheme that can deliver better value for money, we are proposing in the Fisheries Bill, a power to replace, modernise and broaden the existing grant-making powers in the Fisheries Act 1981.”
4.20The Government also drew attention in its paper to the existing Coastal Communities Fund and to the planned Shared Prosperity Fund.
4.21In oral evidence to the Committee on 18 July 2018, the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Michael Gove) said:
“We would seek to replicate not exactly the same bureaucracy behind the EMFF, but the funding that would go towards coastal communities specifically, in order to make sure that everything was there, from the ice machines necessary to keep fish fresh, through to investment in harbour infrastructure.
“One of the things that I have discussed with the Treasury and others is the vital importance of making sure that we have investment in our coastal communities. Fisheries are one way of helping to revive those communities, but they face a number of other challenges. The EMFF is one way of channelling state support into those communities and although we need to make sure that we have something that follows it, there is much more that we need to do for those communities.”17
Previous Committee Reports
None.
12 Funding from EU programmes guaranteed until the end of 2020, HM Treasury, 24 July 2018.
13 “Government publishes plan for an independent fisheries policy“, Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, 4 July 2018.
14 Directive 2014/89/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 July 2014 establishing a framework for maritime spatial planning.
15 Cm 9660 “Sustainable fisheries for future generations”, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, July 2018.
16 Cm 9660 “Sustainable fisheries for future generations”, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, July 2018.
17 Q687, Oral evidence by the Rt Hon Michael Gove MP to the European Scrutiny Committee, 18 July 2018.
Published: 16 October 2018