Explanatory Memorandum to COM(2011)804 - European Maritime and Fisheries Fund [repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 1198/2006 and Council Regulation(EC) No 861/2006 and Council Regulation No XXX/2011 on integrated maritime policy] - Main contents
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| dossier | COM(2011)804 - European Maritime and Fisheries Fund [repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 1198/2006 and Council Regulation(EC) No 861/2006 ... |
|---|---|
| source | COM(2011)804  |
| date | 02-12-2011 |
The Commission proposal for the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2014-2020 adopted on June, 29th, set the budgetary framework and main orientations for the funding of Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) and the Integrated Maritime Policy (IMP).
Further, the Commission adopted on July 13th, 2011 a package laying down the new CFP legislative framework. The Integrated Maritime Policy (IMP) was financed in the years 2008-2010 through a series of pilot schemes and preparatory actions. A new financial instrument has been proposed by the Commission for the period between 2012 and 2013. With the launch of the new MFF, it becomes necessary to adopt a long-term instrument for financial support of the IMP.
The Commission adopted on October 6th 2011 a proposal for a 'Common Provisions' Regulation which lays down common rules for the shared-management funds, with the main aim of simplification of policy delivery. The European Regional Development Fund, European Social Fund, Cohesion Fund, European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the future European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (CSF Funds) pursue complementary objectives and share the same management mode. The 'Common Provisions' Regulation sets out a series of common rules for these funds. These provisions concern the general principles such as partnership, multi-level governance, equality between men and women, sustainability and compliance with applicable EU and national law. The proposal also contains the common elements of strategic planning and programming, including a list of thematic objectives derived from the Europe 2020 Strategy, provisions on the Common Strategic Framework at Union level and on Partnership Contracts to be concluded with each Member State. It introduces macroeconomic conditionalities and sets out a common approach to the performance orientation of the CSF funds. Accordingly, it includes ex-ante conditionalities and performance review, but also the arrangements for monitoring, reporting and evaluation. Common provisions are also set out with regard to eligibility rules, and special arrangements are defined for financial instruments and community led local development. Some management and control arrangements are also common to all CSF Funds.
The current proposal for the Regulation on European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) aims at achieving the objectives of the reformed CFP and of IMP. It is based on these objectives, re-defined in terms of funding:
promotion of sustainable and competitive fisheries and aquaculture;
fostering the development and implementation of the Union's Integrated Maritime Policy, in a complementary manner to cohesion policy and to CFP;
promotion of balanced and inclusive territorial development of fisheries areas (including aquaculture and inland fishing);
contribution to the implementation of the CFP.
The World Trade Organisation negotiations on new fisheries subsidies disciplines are ongoing. Their preliminary nature does not allow anticipating the outcome. However, if new EU obligations arise as the result of these negotiations, the compatibility of the EMFF proposal should be ensured. For this purpose, a compatibility analysis of the relevant EMFF measures may be needed.
Contents
- RESULTS OF CONSULTATIONS WITH THE INTERESTED PARTIES AND IMPACT ASSESSMENTS
- LEGAL ELEMENTS OF THE PROPOSAL
- BUDGETARY IMPLICATION
- 4. Lessons learned and new features of the EMFF
- Reinforced social dimension
- Environmental sustainability
- Focus on innovative, viable and competitive fisheries and aquaculture
- New impetus to the development of Integrated Maritime Policy (IMP)
- Simplification and reduction of the administrative burden
- Strategic programming
- Conditionality
- Monitoring and evaluation
On the basis of the FIFG ex-post evaluation, the interim evaluation of the EFF and the impact assessment for the CFP reform, the impact assessment of the EMFF assesses three alternative scenarios: (i) the "EFF+", which is a continuation of the current EFF without most of the direct fleet subsidies and the support focused on the objectives of the CFP reform (ii) the "EFF+ integration", in which the other CFP funding instruments are integrated into a post EFF fund, but keep the same management mode as today and (iii) the "EFF+ convergence" in which support to IMP is also integrated under the new single fund and all the instruments are brought to the extent possible under the shared management.
These three policy scenarios were aligned with the preferred scenario for the CFP reform and evaluated against the same baseline scenario. They also took into account the results of the consultations launched with the adoption of the Green Paper in April 2009. The outcome of these consultations is summarised below:
– Many contributions ask for the continuation of public funding for the fisheries, although a few Member States and most NGOs argue that they preserve unviable structures, contribute to overcapacity and maintain industry dependence on subsidies.
– There is an agreement that any future support should accompany the implementation of CFP reform and ease adjustment costs of the industry.
– EU funding should focus on research and innovation, enhancing marine protection, and supporting fishermen’s organisations and local development.
– The link to the IMP is considered important: maritime policies can no longer act in isolation, and the coherence of the CFP with the IMP needs to be reinforced.
– More conditionality between EU financing and reaching CFP objectives is needed. Compliance with rules/targets should have a bearing on fund availability.
– A more sectoral approach to the allocation of funding (linked to the size of the fisheries sector instead of the level of economic development, as it is the case today) is strongly supported by a group of Member States while the EP opposes this.
– There is general agreement on the importance of the small-scale coastal fleets which remain a significant source of jobs in coastal communities. Some Member States want a privileged access of this fleet to financing, while others do not favour a specific approach.
– An overwhelming majority of industry and MS consider that common services (such as control and data collection) should continue to be supported under EU funding.
In addition to the public consultation, around 200 meetings with the stakeholders were organized. Meetings during which the CFP reform and funding were discussed took also place in 2010 and 2011. In particular: (i) a dedicated seminar on the future EFF with the stakeholders from industry, trade unions, EP and Member States was organised on April 13th, 2010, in Brussels (ii) two meetings with the Member States took place in Gand (12-14 September 2010) and Noordwijk (9-11 March 2011) (iii) a conference on the future of local development in fisheries areas took place in Brussels, 12-13th April, 2011. Finally, the validity of the integrated approach to maritime affairs and the need for IMP funding have been confirmed by the Commission, the Council and the EP.
The impact assessment concluded that the "EFF+ Convergence" performs better than the two other options on the three impact indicators chosen for the analysis: the reduction of the impact of fisheries on the environment, the closure of the innovation gap in fisheries and aquaculture and the number of jobs created in communities dependent on fisheries.
It is proposed that most of the current CFP and IMP financial instruments are integrated into one fund, with the exception of Sustainable Fisheries Agreements (SFAs) and the compulsory contribution to RFMOs. The EMFF is structured around 4 pillars:
· Smart, Green Fisheries (shared management) to foster the transition to sustainable fishing which is more selective, produces no discards, does less damage to marine ecosystems and thus contributes to the sustainable management of marine ecosystems; and to provide support focused on innovation and value added, making the fisheries sector economically viable and resilient to external shocks and to competition from third countries.
· Smart, Green Aquaculture (shared management) - to achieve economically viable, competitive and green aquaculture, capable of facing global competition and providing EU consumers with healthy and high nutrition value products.
· Sustainable and Inclusive Territorial Development (shared management) - to reverse the decline of many coastal and inland communities dependent on fishing, through adding more value to fishing and fishing related activities and through diversification to other sectors of the maritime economy.
· Integrated Maritime Policy (direct centralised management) to support those cross cutting priorities which generate savings and growth but which the Member States will not take forward on their own – such as marine knowledge, maritime spatial planning, integrated coastal zone management and integrated maritime surveillance, the protection of the marine environment, in particular its biodiversity, and adaptation to the adverse effects of climate change on coastal areas.
In addition to the four pillars, the EMFF will include accompanying measures: data collection and scientific advice, control, governance, fisheries markets (including outermost regions), voluntary payments to RFMOs and technical assistance.
The proposal complies with the principle of subsidiarity. The general objective of the EMFF is to support the objectives of the CFP, a policy on which the EU has exclusive competence, and to further develop the EU Integrated Maritime Policy. Acting on their own, the MS are not in a position to achieve these objectives which will be better achieved at EU level by multi-annual financing focussed on the relevant priorities.
Contribution to Europe 2020
EMFF will contribute to achieving the objectives of the Europe 2020 strategy under three flagship initiatives: i) a resource efficient Europe, ii) an innovation union and iii) the agenda for new skills and jobs.
Supporting the transition to sustainable fishing, based on maximum sustainable yields, the elimination of discards and the reduction of the impact of fisheries on the marine environment, the promotion of aquaculture with high levels of environmental protection and an increased coordination of maritime policies leading to more sustainable use of resources will be a key contribution of the EMFF to 'Resource Efficient Europe'.
Under 'An agenda for new skills and jobs' the priority of the EMFF will be to increase employment, territorial cohesion and social inclusion in fisheries dependent communities. The diversification of local economies, in particular towards other sectors of the maritime economy, will create new jobs and growth opportunities in coastal areas.
The EMFF will also contribute to 'Innovation Union', through the support for product and process innovation at all levels of the production, marketing and distribution chains of the fisheries and aquaculture sectors, increase in added value of fisheries and aquaculture products, support to eco-innovation and further development of new, innovative, cross-cutting policy tools such as Marine Knowledge, Maritime Spatial Planning and Integrated Maritime Surveillance.
EMFF will promote social cohesion and job creation in fisheries dependent communities through adding more value to fisheries and through diversification into other maritime sectors. The community-led approach to the sustainable development of fisheries areas will be reinforced. EMFF also recognises for the first time the role that spouses – mostly women - often play in the family fishing business, in many cases without any legal recognition. They can benefit inter alia from EMFF support for training, in particular for the acquisition of skills linked to entrepreneurship and business management.
The EMFF will also promote human capital and foster diversification by enabling local communities to acquire skills needed for entering new activities emerging in other maritime sectors. This approach will also build on natural and cultural heritage, turning them into important assets for local development.
In view of the importance of small-scale coastal fleets for coastal communities, the EMFF proposes to apply to them a higher aid intensity rate and introduces some special measures eligible only for these fleets. These measures include professional advice on business and marketing strategies, business start ups outside fishing and special support for innovation; the latter is particularly important considering that the majority of these fishing businesses are micro enterprises with restricted access to funding.
Priority will be given to collective approaches, inter alia by producer organisations, which build on social capital and permit the achievement of critical mass of investment. These collective approaches will also benefit from a higher aid intensity rate.
The existing measures have been streamlined and reviewed in order to establish a strong link to environmental sustainability. Overcapacity remains the major problem of the CFP and is one of the key drivers of overfishing. The removal of overcapacity through public aid such as scrapping has proven ineffective; despite €1.7 billion spent since 1994, actual fishing capacity has not decreased in most of EU fleets. The EMFF will therefore not support scrapping anymore and deploy thus saved financial resources towards more effective forms of assistance to sustainable fishing.
EMFF will support the transition to Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY) and facilitate the gradual introduction of a discard ban through the integral approach, involving measures such as support for more selective gears and fishing techniques, investment in equipment on board and port facilities necessary for the use of unwanted catches, marketing measures and processing. With the same objective, the financial allocation to data collection and scientific advice (to increase the number of stocks for which scientific advice is available) and to control expenditure (to ensure better compliance) has been substantially increased.
There will also be a focus on the development of aquaculture with high level of environmental protection and support for aquaculture which has a positive effect on ecosystems.
Worldwide fisheries represent around 1.2% of the global fuel consumption. There is a need to increase resource efficiency and reduce emissions in the catching sector and, to a lesser extent, in aquaculture in order to contribute to the Europe 2020 headline target on climate change. Accordingly, the EMFF will support some measures to mitigate climate change.
Both fisheries and aquaculture have difficulties to innovate. Supply, marketing and commercialisation are currently organised in such a way that fishing and aquaculture businesses are rarely involved in selling and marketing their products.
1. New measures with a strong focus on innovation have been included in the EMFF to promote the development of new or improved products, processes, management and organisation systems throughout the whole value chain, in order to help the fisheries and aquaculture to add value to their products, reduce the environmental impact of their activities and lower production costs. Innovation will also be fostered by measures to stimulate co-operation between scientists and fishermen. The support for community-led local development will also disseminate innovation at the local level, taking into account that such innovation is often defined in the local context, and may be technological or non technological, and based on new or traditional practices.
2. The EMFF will also seek, for the first time, to promote new forms of aquaculture with high growth potential, such as offshore and non food aquaculture and to encourage business start ups. The new features include also support to multifunctional aquaculture, allowing diversifying the income of aquaculture enterprises through activities such as angling, direct sale, eco tourism or aquaculture related educational activities. Support for the use of advisory services by aquaculture firms and measures increasing the potential of aquaculture sites (through, inter alia, funding for maritime spatial planning and improvement of infrastructures) are also proposed.
Complementarity and synergy with research and innovation programmes foreseen with the new Research Framework programme in preparation (Horizon 2020) will be encouraged.
The IMP was launched in 2007 to facilitate maritime coordination across borders and sectors (maritime transport, industry, coastal regions, offshore energy, fisheries or the marine environment). Coordination between previously compartmentalized policies results in the reduction of costs and more efficiency.
Funding for the IMP in the EMFF will focus on the development of cross-sectoral policy tools: initiatives that benefit different sectors but that cannot be accomplished within individual policy areas. Maritime Spatial Planning provides a stable legal framework for the management of marine areas, resources and ecosystem services in a sustainable way. It has been shown to accelerate maritime investments and lower legal and administrative costs for companies. Integrated Maritime Surveillance allows public actors to share data in order to efficiently cope with real time events at sea. It avoids costly duplications of resource-consuming maritime surveillance activities. Integrated surveillance means cost-effective synergies for the better use of public money. Marine Knowledge 2020 aims at pooling together Europe's fragmented marine knowledge into a resource that is freely and publicly accessible. The Marine Strategy Framework Directive, which is the environmental pillar of the IMP, will further define the boundaries of sustainability of human activities that have an impact on the marine environment.
Managing maritime affairs in an integrated way means spending public money better and maximising the effect of the various policies affecting the sea. On that line, funding will also support the development of integrated maritime governance at sea basin level. Coordination at sea basin level ensures that funds are spent within a consistent policy framework, combining different sources of funding. The inclusion of the IMP in the EMFF also supports the mainstreaming of maritime objectives into other funds enabling maritime policies to make a stronger contribution to the Europe 2020 strategy.
The integration of five CFP and IMP financial instruments into a single fund will lead to a major simplification due to the streamlined and unified rules and procedures. In addition, data collection, control and market measures, including the compensation for the outermost regions, will be managed together with the ex-EFF measures under the shared management. This means that four sets of financial decisions, reporting, monitoring and evaluation procedures will be replaced by one.
Moreover, the interim evaluation of the EFF shows that the main administrative burden was due to the setting up of the Management and Control System. The proposal for the 'Common Provisions' Regulation envisages a management and control system which is similar for CSF funds and is based on common principles. A system of national accreditation is put in place to emphasize the commitment of Member States to sound financial management. The arrangements underpinning the assurance of the Commission with regard to the regularity of expenditure have been harmonised and new common elements such as a management declaration of assurance and annual clearance of accounts have been introduced. This approach shall significantly reduce the amount of the time necessary for setting up management and control systems and accelerate the implementation. In particular the alignment of the delivery mechanism with that of the rural development fund, will give the Member States a possibility to use the same bodies for the management of the EARDF and EMFF Operational Programmes. This will further reduce the administrative costs due to the unified approach in terms of management and control, including reporting, evaluation and monitoring.
Common rules on the use of the financial instruments give clearer framework and clarify that financial instruments can be used for all types of investment and beneficiary. This allows for bringing the EMFF contribution to already existing financial institutions, where collaboration agreements have already been developed for other EU funds, thus avoiding administrative burden and duplication and making financial engineering a more attractive alternative to co-financing through grants.
The integrated approach for community led local development (current Axis 4) facilitates joint ventures funded by CSF funds, by allowing joint assessment and approval of local development strategies, allowing the financing of management costs from one source only and avoiding reporting on these costs to different bodies.
The use of common indicators will facilitate the reporting by the Member States, focusing it on quantified data on progress and reducing the descriptive elements.
EMFF also clarifies rules of compliance with CFP, in particular with data collection framework, control and IUU Regulations, thus giving the Member States and beneficiaries more legal certainty.
In order to further simplify the implementation of the EMFF, eligibility rules are harmonised with other EU funds. This will make projects easier to handle for both beneficiaries and national authorities and will also facilitate the implementation of integrated projects. A wider utilisation of simplified cost options will be allowed for the shared management part of the EMFF (standard costs, lump sump payments and flat rate financing for grants) thus reducing the costs of control and error rate.
Strategic approach:
The CSF and Partnership Contracts cover five shared-management funds under the 'Common Provisions' Regulation. This framework allows a better strategic fit between these funds at Union level. The CSF will be implemented through a Partnership Contract, coordinating the CSF funds at national level.
Currently, the coordination of the EFF with other strands of EU funding is done using the principle of 'demarcation lines' between the funds, which led to both overlaps and gaps in policy coverage. A better coordination mechanism is therefore needed and the new delivery mechanism reinforcing the strategic approach should answer those problems. CSF and Partnership Contracts will replace the strategic approach (National Strategic Plans) introduced in the current EFF, which has serious limitations and required a disproportionate effort for Member States receiving limited EFF funding.
EMFF focuses on CFP and IMP long-term strategic objectives including sustainable and competitive fisheries and aquaculture, consistent policy framework for the further development of IMP and balanced and inclusive territorial development of fisheries areas. In line with the Europe 2020 strategy, these broad objectives for 2014-2020 are translated into the following six Union priorities for the EMFF:
– Increasing employment and territorial cohesion;
– Fostering innovative, competitive and knowledge based fisheries;
– Fostering innovative, competitive and knowledge based aquaculture;
– Promoting sustainable and resource efficient fisheries;
– Promoting a sustainable and resource efficient aquaculture;
– Fostering the implementation of the CFP.
These priorities will form the basis of financial programming, including the definition of target indicators in relation to each of them.
The 'Common Provisions' Regulation introduces new conditionality provisions to ensure that Union funding creates strong incentives for Member States to deliver Europe 2020 objectives and targets. Conditionality will take the form of both ‘ex ante’ conditions that must be in place before funds are disbursed and ex post conditions that will make the release of 5% of the EMFF allocation contingent on performance. Ex post' conditionality will be based on the achievement of milestones related to targets for outputs and results linked to Europe 2020 objectives set for programmes in the Partnership Contract.
Union financial assistance under the EMFF will be made conditional upon the compliance of Member States and operators with the objectives and rules of CFP, in particular control obligations, the IUU Regulation and data collection obligations. In addition ex ante conditionality will apply to aquaculture, requiring the Member States to prepare multiannual national strategic plans on the basis of Union strategic guidelines. As foreseen by the CFP Regulation, the objective of these plans, based on the Union strategic guidelines, will be to facilitate sustainable development of aquaculture in relation to the business security, access to waters and space, and administrative simplification of licensing. These conditionalities will foster the compliance with CFP rules and increase the coherence of the whole policy.
The interim evaluation of the EFF concluded that the existing indicators are focused on output and are too numerous. Moreover, they lack common approach and a common definition of the units to be measured.
Accordingly, the EMFF proposes a Common Strategic Monitoring and Evaluation Framework (CMEF) in which a set of common output, result and impact indicators will be defined in cooperation with the MS and adopted in an implementing act. These indicators will be linked to the priorities of the EMFF, allowing the aggregation of data at Union level and the assessment of the progress, efficiency and effectiveness of policy implementation necessary, inter alia, for allocation of the performance reserve. Ex-ante evaluation will be used to set baseline, milestones and target indicator values which will feed into the Partnership Contracts and the OPs. Two special annual reports in 2017 and 2019 will look at the state of delivery and the lessons for the next programming period.
The MFF proposal provides that a significant part of the EU budget should continue to be dedicated to fisheries and maritime policies. The envelope for 2014-2020, in current prices, is set at €7,535 billion, including SFAs and the compulsory contributions to RFMOs, which will be funded separately. The EMFF budget amounts, in current prices to € 6567 million. Details on the financial impact of the EMFF proposal are set out in the financial statement accompanying the proposal.