FISHERIES: NEW EU FUND TO SPEND EURO 700 MILLION A YEAR

摘要

The European Commission is proposing to grant Euro 700 million a year to fishing areas from 2007-2013. Its main aim is to soften the blow of the latest Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) reform which phases out subsidies and ties up trawlers across Europeto save fish stocks threatened with collapse. Three-quarters of the new European Fisheries Fund (EFF), worth Euro 4.9 billion in all, will target regions which have suffered job losses by funding retraining schemes. Euro 1,7 billion goes to "Convergence"(the new term for Objective 1) regions in the new Member States, with another Euro 2 billion earmarked for EU-15 regions. The Commission said it will also encourage the use of more environmentally-friendly equipment and methods in fishing and aquaculture. The exact figures for each Member State are not likely to be agreed until Summer 1995.