92001E0671

WRITTEN QUESTION P-0671/01

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

(26 February 2001)

Subject: Fishing licence fees in international fisheries agreements concluded by the EU

1. Is the Commission aware of the contribution that Community shipowners make towards EU development cooperation policy through the payment of fishing licence fees under fisheries agreements between the EU and developing countries? Does it take this contribution into account in setting the amount to be paid by Community shipowners for licences in the agreements in which they participate?

2. Is it aware that the so-called northern agreements contribute little or nothing towards development cooperation and poverty alleviation, and that any licence fees included therein are lower in comparison with those in the southern agreements? What does the Commission make of this situation?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(26 March 2001)

1. The Commission is aware that, in addition to the financial compensation paid by the Community, fisheries agreements bring additional revenue from fees paid by shipowners to the coastal States concerned. The Commission accordingly bears both financial components in mind when negotiating the renewal of protocols on their expiry.

As to whether fees paid by shipowners contribute towards the development of developing coastal States, the Commission would point out that, by contrast with an increasingly large percentage of the compensation paid from the Community budget (targeted measures), the existing agreements make no provision for such revenue to be earmarked for measures specifically benefiting the fisheries sector of the partner country. This revenue does comply with Article 62(4) of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, under which coastal States can issue licences to fishermen or for ships and fishing gear, in particular against payment for rights or any other compensation which, in the case of developing coastal States, may consist in a contribution to the financing and technical resources of the fishing industry.

2. The Commission is also aware of the differences in treatment between agreements with northern countries and those with southern countries. There are, in its view, substantial differences between northern and southern partners in terms of both needs and development. It must accordingly adapt the instruments linking the Community and certain coastal States in bilateral or multilateral relations, paying due regard to the differences and the issues at stake. In so doing, the Community has never raised the need to contribute, through its fishing agreements, to the fight against poverty in some of its northern partners, but it strives to do so with some of its southern partners.

In its Green Paper on the future of the Common Fisheries Policy, the Commission recognised the dichotomy that the Honourable Member refers to and it proposed to adapt its external policy accordingly.