Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-11-14-Speech-3-370"
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"en.20011114.15.3-370"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the draft Council regulation on the promotion of the conversion of vessels and of fishermen dependent on the fishing agreement with Morocco, which is the subject of the excellent report by Mrs Miguélez Ramos, deserves our unreserved approval.
The proposal shows that the European Union cares about the fate of such vulnerable and fragile activities, whose survival depended on the renewal or non-renewal of a fishing agreement with Morocco. European solidarity works and continues to work. That is for the sceptics. The Commission proposal considers the problems of conversion from its economic and social angles. It also has the merit of mobilising new money, EUR 197 million, which is compatible with the mobilisation of other resources already allocated under the Structural Funds.
In Portugal there are 570 fishermen who receive support under this programme, 400 of whom live in Sesimbra, a small, attractive fishing and tourist town very close to Lisbon. Of these 400 who live in Sesimbra, 150 are already over 55 years old, which means they can be moved into early retirement, since at this age it is difficult to retrain them for a different job. In simple terms, while the shipowners are liable to receive supplements of 20%, the same is not true for the fishermen, which to me seems an injustice.
Now, the fishermen will be able to get EUR 10 000 euros over one year if they do not do any other work. The possibility of a 20% increase, although modest, would allow them to raise that sum to EUR 12 000, which would make it rather more attractive. Furthermore, the proposal has quite a rigid structure and should be made more flexible, allowing the Member States, in this case Portugal and Spain, to adapt better to situations that are truly complex and sometimes do not fit within the rigid stays of the regulation. This flexibility should be accepted so that the aid already granted by the end of 2001 should not all be accounted for under the part of FIFG Article 4 intended for socio-economic measures, and all of it within the Lisbon and Tagus valley region, and it would be better if it could be diluted in other programmes.
Lastly, Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I entirely agree with the content and proposals of the report by Mrs Miguélez Ramos, which I think are lucid and sensible, particularly those dealing with the possibility of supporting processing activities that were dependent on fishing. Indeed, it does not make sense that certain fishery-dependent processing and marketing activities, which in this case have been hit very hard, should not also be funded. For this reason, too, we are grateful for the report by Mrs Miguélez Ramos."@en1
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